LIBRARY   OF 


HENRY  C.  FALL- 


AND  KATHARINE  A.  FALL 


Slumber    I  &  d>  (~ 
Date  of  Purchase, 


Place 
Cost 


t?'<3 


SUMMER    CRUISE 


COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 


BY   ROBERT   CARTER. 


"  They  are  becalmed  in  clearest  days, 

And  in  rough  weather  tost ; 
They  wither  under  cold  delays, 

Or  are  in  tempests  lost. 
One  while  they  seem  to  touch  the  port, 

Then  straight  into  the  main, 
Some  angry  wind,  in  cruel  sport, 

The  vessel  drives  again.*' 


'  How  sweet  it  was 

Eating  the  lotos  day  by  day, 

To  watch  the  crisping  ripples  on  the  beach, 

And  tender  curving  lines  of  creamy  spray.** 

TEKUTSOW. 


BOSTON: 
CROSBY     AND     NICHOLS. 

NEW  YORK :   OLIVER   S.  FELT. 
1864. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1864,  by 

CROSBY     AND     NICHOLS, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


UNIVERSITY   PRESS 
,    BIGEI.OW,    AND    C 
CAMBRIDGE. 


PREFACE. 


THE  fishing  voyage  of  which  this  book  is  a 
record  was  made  in  1858,  during  my  summer 
vacation  from  the  arduous  duties  of  a  Washing- 
ton Correspondent  of  the.  New  York  Tribune, 
and  the  narrative  originally  appeared  in  the 
form  of  letters  to  that  journal.  In  that  shape 
it  met  with  considerable  favor,  especially  from 
sportsmen  and  naturalists  ;  and  its  publication 
in  a  permanent  form,  at  this  late  day,  is  due,  in 
part,  to  the  assurances  I  have  received  from 
high  scientific  authority  that  its  sketches  of  the 
fishes  of  our  Northern  seas,  of  their  habits  and 
resorts,  and  of  the  methods  of  taking  them,  are 
not  without  value  as  contributions  to  Natural 
History.  I  can  only  say  upon  this  point,  that  I 
have  spared  no  pains  to  make  my  statements 
accurate,  not  only  by  careful  personal  observa- 
tions, but  by  freely  consulting  and  using  the 
writings  of  our  best  American  ichthyologists. 

R.  C. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

PAGB 
PLAN  OF  THK  CRUISE 1 


CHAPTER    II. 

FROM  BOSTON  TO  SWAMPSCOTT.  —  A  DEVIL'S- APRON  AND  ITS 
CONTENTS       


CHAPTER    III. 
THE  CUNNEK.  —  THE  SCULPIN. — A  SCIENTIFIC  SHOEMAKER    16 


CHAPTER    IV. 

OFF    BOSTON    LIGHT.  —  POLLACK.  —  SUN-SQUALLS.  —  BLUE- 
FISHING     .23 


CHAPTER    V. 

A  MIDNIGHT  WATCH.  —  RUNNING  DOWN  THE  SOUTH  SHORE. 
—  PLYMOUTH.  —  THE  ASSYRIAN 86 

CHAPTER    VI. 
PROVINCETOWN.  —  SAND-DABS.  —  COCKTAILS  .  .    45 

CHAPTER    VII. 
PROVINCETOWN.  —  THE  SANDS  OF  CAPE  COD         .        .        .63 


v[  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

FROM  PROVINCE-TOWN  TO  SWAMPSCOTT.  —  MINOT'S  LEDGE 
LIGHTHOUSE.  —  THE  SKATE  AND  THE  KRAKEN         .        .      69 

CHAPTER    IX. 

THE  HELEN'S  CABIN.  — HARDHEADS.  — DREAD  LEDGE  FISH- 
ING    66 

CHAPTER    X. 

DREDGING   OFF    NAHANT.  —  MISADVENTURES.  —  A    NIGHT 
Row         , 76 

CHAPTER    XI. 

SHROWDEN'S  BANK  —  A  SEA- WOLF.  —  A  SEA-RAVEN.  —  A 
HEMDURGAN.  —  HOPE  OF  HALIBUT 80 


CHAPTER    XII. 

TINKER'S  ISLAND.  —  THE  TAUTOG.  —  MARBLEHEAD.  —  SKIP- 
PER IRESON'S  RIDE  .      87 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE  GREAT  THUNDER-STORM.  —  FROM  MARBLEHEAD  TO 
GLOUCESTER.  —  MOTHER  CAREY'S  CHICKENS.  —  A  SKIP- 
PER LOST .93 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

A  MARINE  MUNCHAUSEN.  —  RATTLESNAKE   SOUP.  —  A   BIG 
SNAKE.  —  HELEN'S  GROTTO 103 


CHAPTER    XV. 

IOCKPORT  HARBOR.  —  THE  KING  OF  THE  GUNNERS.  —  LOB- 
STER-FISHING. —  THE  ASSYRIAN  STARTLED         .        .        .     lia 


CONTENTS.  vii 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

PIGEON- COVE. —  CAMPHENE    COCKTAILS.  —  MUSICAL   FISH- 
ERMEN     .        . 127 

CHAPTER    XVII. 
CONGEE-EELS.  —  FOR  THE  ISLES  OF  SHOALS.  —  THE  VIKINGS    138 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

THE   ISLES  OF  SHOALS.  —  THE  PRINCE   OF  APPLEDORE.  — 
NIGHT  ON  THE  WATER 148 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

THB   E  PLURIBUS  UNUM.  —  A   BAIT-MILL.  —  THE   MONK- 
FISH. —  To  PORTSMOUTH  AND  PORTLAND  ....    148 


CHAPTER    XX. 

CASCO  BAY.  —  THE  POWER  OF  MELODY.  —  THE  HADDOCK. 
—  JEWELL'S  ISLAND 167 


CHAPTER    XXI. 
To  HARPSWELL  POINT.  —  ON  A  REEF.  —  A  COLD  BATH      .    167 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

SUCCESSFUL  FISHING.  —  WHITING,    HAKE,   AND   COD.  —  A 
CHOWDER-PARTY 176 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

THE   SEA-CUCUMBER.  —  JAQUISS   AND  BAILEY  ISLANDS.  — 
—  MACKEREL  COVE.  —  THE  MAINE  LAW    .        .        .        .186 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 
FLOUNDER-FISHING.  —  CATCHING  A  HALIBUT 


viii  .     CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

A  STORM   OFF  CAPE  SEQUIN.  —  BOOTHBAY.  —  THE    COAST- 
SURVEY  SCHOONER 203 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

FROM  BOOTHBAY  EASTWARD.  —  MACKEKKL  AND  MACKEREL- 
FISHING    .  .    212 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 
THE  ISLAND  OF  MONHEGAN.  —  OWL'S  HEAD.  —  FLAT   BUR- 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

FIRE   AND    WATER.  —  PULPIT   HARBOR.  —  THE   CUSK.  —  A 
STRANGE  FISH 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

FLAPJACKS.  —  DEER    ISLAND.  —  A    DRUNKEN    PILOT.  —  To 
MOUNT  DESERT  .    244 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

MOUNT  DESERT.  —  BASS  HARBOR.  —  AN  UNBENDING  DEA- 
CON. —  BAR  HARBOR.  —  FAREWELL  TO  EDEN.  —  END  OF 
THE  CRUISE .262 


A  SUMMER  CRUISE. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  PLAN  OF  THE  CRUISE. 

ON  one  of  the  hottest  evenings  of  the  hot 
month  of  June,  1858,  I  paid  a  visit  to  my  friend 

Professor  ,  at  his  residence  on  G.  Street, 

Washington. 

I  do  not  know  that  my  friend  had  any  regular 
or  official  claim  to  the  title  of  Professor.  It  was 
conferred  upon  him,  like  so  many  of  our  Ameri- 
can titles,  as  a  matter  of  conversational  conven- 
ience by  the  officers  of  the  North  Pacific  Exploring 
Expedition,  of  which  he  was  Naturalist.  They 
dubbed  him  Professor  of  Marine  Zoology,  in  rec- 
ognition of  his  skill  in  the  knowledge  of  all  that 
pertains  to  the  creatures  that  inhabit  the  great 
deep,  but  especially  of  the  mollusks,  Crustacea,  and 
invertebrates  generally, — a  knowledge  abundantly 
shown  in  his  various  treatises  on  the  marine 
zoology,  not  only  of  New  England,  but  of  the 
Chinese  and  Japanese  seas.  The  study  of  the 


2  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

ocean  and  its  inhabitants  had  been  a  passion  with 
him  from  early  boyhood,  and  was  pursued  with 
such  success,  that,  in  1849,  while  yet  a  youth,  he 
had  discovered  the  principle  of  the  aquarium,  and 
had  a  number  of  aquariums  in  successful  opera- 
tion long  before  anything  was  heard  of  the  kin- 
dred experiments  of  the  Englishman  Warrington. 
It  was  a  fearfully  hot  night;  one  of  a  long 
succession  of  hot  nights  and  days  through  which  I 
had  patiently  sweltered  and  sweated,  in  the  vain 
expectation  that  time  and  endurance  would  gradu- 
ally accustom  me  to  being  broiled  and  parboiled, 
as  they  are  said  to  render  eels  tolerant  of,  if  not 
acquiescent  in,  the  process  of  being  skinned  alive. 
But  a  frame  acclimated  to  the  moderate  heats 
and  invariably  cool  nights  of  the  sea-coast  of 
Massachusetts,  could  not  readily  become  insensi- 
ble to  the  influence  of  an  atmosphere  which  at 
midnight,  as  well  as  at  noonday,  maintained  a  heat 
greater  than  the  average  heat  of  the  torrid  zone. 
I  sought  refuge  at  the  Professor's,  because  his 
house,  though  not  materially  cooler  than  the  rest 
of  the  city,  was  intellectually  and  imaginatively 
cooler.  It  abounded  in  objects  suggestive  of  re- 
freshing ideas.  There  were  crabs  and  shells  that 
had  been  dragged  from  the  sunless  depths  of  the 
Arctic  Ocean ;  fishing-lines  and  dredges  that  had 
explored  the  cool  abysses  of  Kamtchatkan  and 
Siberian  seas ;  drawings  of  icebergs  and  glaciers ; 
and,  what  particularly  was  wont  to  give  an  agreea- 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.          3 

ble  chill  to  my  fancy,  a  picture  of  the  prodigious 
snowy  cone  of  the  great  Japanese  volcano,  Fusi- 
Yama,  made  by  a  native  artist  at  Sirnoda,  where 
the  Professor  himself  purchased  it. 

The  Professor,  with  nothing  on  but  a  shirt  and 
the  thinnest  of  pantaloons,  was  stretched  on  a  sofa, 
with  a  cigar  in  his  mouth,  languidly  smoking,  and 
contemplating  through  his  gold  spectacles  the 
ungainly  proportions  of  a  monstrous  dor-bug  he 
had  just  captured.  Our  conversation  opened,  of 
course,  on  the  weather. 

"  I  cannot  stand  it  any  longer,"  he  said ;  "  I 
shall  start  on  a  cruise  on  the  coast  of  Maine  next 
week,  and  you  had  better  come  along,  if  you  do 
not  want  to  die  of  a  fever.  You  look  horribly 
bilious  already,  and  a  few  days  more  of  this  heat 
will  use  you  up  entirely.  Let  us  go  and .  cool  off 
at  Grand  Manan.  I  spent  two  months  there  some 
summers  ago,  fishing  and  dredging,  and  can  assure 
you  that  it  is  the  finest  place  on  our  whole  coast." 

"  For  crabs,  I  suppose,  Professor.  All  places 
are  classified  by  you  for  good  or  bad  with  relation 
to  their  production  or  non-production  of  crabs." 

"For  crabs,  yes,  —  but  not  alone  for  crabs. 
The  scenery  is  superb,  —  grander  than  anything 
you  will  see  this  side  of  the  Saguenay.  Huge, 
rocky  cliffs,  a  thousand  feet  high,  rise  right  out 
cf  deep  water,  and  are  broken  into  the  wildest 
and  most  romantic  caves  and  inlets.  They  are 
the  haunt  of  nearly  all  kinds  of  sea-birds,  from 


4:  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

the  herring-gull  down  to  Mother  Carey's  chick- 
ens. We  shall  catch  there  and  on  our  way  down 
the  coast  every  species  of  fish  that  swims  in  our 
seas." 

"  Including  the  whale  ?  " 

"  The  whale  is  not  a  fish,"  responded  the  Pro- 
fessor, gravely,  overlooking  the  levity  of  my  inter- 
ruption in  his  scientific  sense  of  its  zoological 
inaccuracy,  "  but  I  promise  you  we  shall  see 
whales  in  abundance.  We  shall  also  catch  sharks, 
and  kill  seals  and  porpoises.  But,  in  short,  if  you 
will  come  along,  we  will  run  into  every  harbor 
from  Provincetown  to  Eastport,  and  fish  and 
dredge  till  you  have  seen  at  least  one  specimen 
of  every  creature  that  swims  the  sea  or  dwells  on 
the  bottom.  Then,  if  you  will,  you  can  write  a 
book  about  the  aquarium  which  shall  be  a  little 
more  reliable  than  that  trumpery  thing  of  Ed- 
wards's  which  you  sent  me  yesterday." 

"What  is  the  matter  with  that?"  I  asked. 
"  It  seemed  to  me  a  clever  and  entertaining 
book." 

The  Professor  launched  into  an  elaborate  and 
energetic  criticism,  the  details  of  which  I  cannot 
now  recall,  and  to  which  I  must  confess  I  paid 
little  attention,  for  the  amount  of  it  seemed  to  be 
that  Mr.  Edwards  had  transferred  a  few  species 
of  mollusks  from  the  English  seas  to  ours,  and 
was  not  very  careful  in  the  spelling  of  his  scien- 
tific names. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  5 

I  intimated  that  the  orthography  of  these  un- 
couth appellations  was  of  little  consequence.  The 
Professor  shook  his  head.  The  young  men  and 
maidens  who  were  going  with  such  enthusiasm 
into  the  formation  of  aquariums  would  be  led 
into  a  shocking  confusion  of  names  and  species. 
Besides,  some  of  the  plates  were  wrong.  "  On 
plate  No.  5,  for  example,  a  species  of  Lymnea  is 
figured  as  Physa  heterostropha,  and  on  —  " 

"  That  will  do.  I  give  up  Edwards,  on  condi- 
tion that  you  do  not  utter  another  of  those  jaw- 
breakers during  the  entire  evening.  But  how 
shall  we  go  to  the  Grand  Manan  ? " 

The  Professor's  hint  about  my  bilious  appear- 
ance had  privately  decided  me  to  take  an  abrupt 
leave  of  the  national  capital.  I  already  felt  a 
fever  in  my  veins. 

"  I  have  written  to  my  friend  Tufts,  the  aqua- 
rium maker  and  stocker  at  Swampscott,  —  you 
have  heard  me  speak  of  him  ?  —  to  engage  me  a 
good,  clean,  stout  fishing-smack  of  from  ten  to 
twenty  tons,*  and  also  two  experienced  boatmen, 
one  of  them,  if  possible,  old  Captain  Widger,  who 
went  with  me  on  my  cruise  last  year.  I  shall 
hear  from  Tufts  in  a  day  or  two,  and  you  had 
better  get  ready  at  once,  for  I  shall  be  off  like  a 
flash  the  moment  I  can  get  away." 

In  reply  to  my  inquiries  into  the  nature  and 
extent  of  the  requisite  preparations  for  a  cruise 
of  a  month's  duration,  the  Professor  said :  — 


6  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

"  Put  two  pairs  of  pantaloons,  two  thick  coats, 
and  a  vest  or  two,  the  oldest  and  worst  you  have, 
into  a  bag,  —  a  gunny-bag  or  a  potato-sack  will 
do.  Put  in,  also,  a  couple  of  flannel  shirts  and 
drawers,  and  half  a  dozen  or  a  dozen  of  thick 
woollen  socks,  and  an  old  felt  hat.  Buy  a  couple 
of  the  thickest  red-flannel  shirts  you  can  find,  a 
pair  of  thick-soled  cowhide  boots,  a  tight-fitting 
cloth  cap,  a  cheap  straw  hat,  and  a  pair  of  oilskin 
or  India-rubber  pantaloons,  —  oilskin  is  best,  for 
it  does  n't  smell  so  abominably  as  India-rubber. 
Put  these,  with  two  or  three  pairs  of  old  slippers, 
in  the  bag,  and  tie  it  up  tight.  Put  a  couple  of 
linen  shirts,  more  or  less,  as  you  please,  and  a 
decent  suit  of  light  summer  clothes,  in  a  valise, 
so  that  you  can  go  ashore  at  Salem,  Portland, 
Eastport,  and  other  civilized  places,  and  see  your 
friends  if  you  have  any.  That  is  all  the  outfit 
you  will  need.  I  will  look  out  for  supplying  the 
vessel  with  provisions  and  table-ware.  I  will  also 
provide  pens,  ink,  paper,  pencils,  and  envelopes. 
If  you  want  to  take  notes,  put  in  your  valise  two 
or  three  blank-books, — loose  sheets  of  paper  are 
always  getting  lost." 

"  And  the  damage  ?  " 

The  Professor  has  an  abhorrence  of  slang 
phrases,  except  those  which  he  uses  himself. 

"  I  suppose  you  mean  the  expense,"  he  replied. 
"  I  cannot  exactly  tell  till  I  hear  from  Tufts  what 
sort  of  craft  he  has  engaged,  and  on  what  terms ; 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  7 

but  if  we  get  one  or  two  others  to  go  and  share 
expenses,  the  '  damage,'  as  you  call  it,  will  be 
from  $  50  to  $  100  apiece." 

This  was  satisfactory,  and  I  made  my  prepara- 
tions accordingly.  I  put  nothing  in  the.  bag  be- 
yond what,  the  Professor  indicated,  except  a  pair 
of  India-rubber  overshoes,  which  I  subsequently 
found  of  essential  service  when  the  deck  was  too 
wet  for  slippers,  as  was  frequently  the  case. 

Two  or  three  days  later  the  Professor  came  to 
see  me  in  high  glee,  intense  delight  gleaming 
through  the  perspiration  that  rolled  down  his  face 
from  the  heat  of  a  walk  in  the  sunshine.  He 
flourished  an  open  letter  in  his  hand. 

"  Tufts  writes  that  he  has  engaged  the  sloop 
Helen  and  her  owner,  Captain  Gurney,  and  that 
Captain  Widger  will  go  if  we  want  him.  The 
sloop  was  built  for  a  yacht,  is  stout  and  tight  and 
roomy,  with  four  berths.  She  measures  seventeen 
tons,  and  draws  five  and  a  half  feet  of  water ;  has 
not  been  much  used  for  fishing,  and  is  conse- 
quently clean  and  in  good  condition." 

"  The  price  ?  "  I  suggested. 

"  Seven  dollars  and  a  half  a  day,  including  the 
two  men.  I  shall  write  to  have  her  brought  to 
Boston  on  Friday  next,  and  we  will  start  the  next 
day."  » 


A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 


CHAPTER    II. 

FROM  BOSTON  TO  SWAMPSCOTT.  —  A  DEVIL'S-APRON 
AND  ITS  CONTENTS. 

I  WAS  in  Boston  on  the  day  indicated,  Saturday, 
July  3,  and  after  making  purchase  of  an  outfit  in 
nearly  literal  compliance  with  the  Professor's  ad- 
vice, I  found  myself  at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
on  board  the  sloop,  which  was  moored  on  the 
north  side  of  Long  Wharf. 

I  do  not  know  that  I  can  write  a  better  descrip- 
tion of  the  vessel  than  that  given  yi  her  fishing 
license,  which,  duly  signed  and  countersigned  by 
the  Collector  and  Surveyor  of  the  Port  of  Lynn, 
was  kept  on  board  in  a  tin  case.  It  read  thus :  — 

"  District  of  Marblehead :  In  pursuance  of  an  act  of 
Congress  entitled  'An  Act  for  enrolling  and  licensing 
ships  or  vessels  to  be  employed  in  the  coasting  trade 
and  fisheries,  and  for  regulating  the  same,'  John  Gor- 
ham  and  William  G.  Gurney,  fishermen  of  Swampscott, 
in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  having  given  bond  that 
the  sloop  called  the  Helen,  whereof  the  said  Gurney  is 
master,  —  burden  16  92-95  tons,  as  appears  by  the  cer- 
tificate of  admeasurement,  dated  at  Marblehead,  the  22d 
day  of  May,  1856,  by  which  certificate  it  appears  that 
her  length  is  32  feet  and  7  inches  ;  breadth,  12  feet  and 
5  inches  ;  depth,  5  feet  and  2  inches ;  square  stern  and 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  9 

billet  heads,  —  shall  not  be  employed  in  any  trade,  while 
this  license  shall  continue  in  force,  whereby  the  revenue 
of  the  United  States  shall  be  defrauded,  and  having 
also  sworn  that  this  license  shall  not  be  used  for  any 
other  vessel  or  for  any  other  employment  than  is  here- 
in specified,  license  is  hereby  granted  for  the  said  sloop, 
called  the  Helen  of  Swampscott,  to  be  employed  in 
carrying  on  the  cod-fishery  for  one  year  from  the  date 
hereof,  and  no  longer.  —  May  7,  1858." 

The  Professor  was  on  board,  in  a  state  of  keen 
impatience,  accompanied  by  his  friend  Tufts,  the 
aquarium  stocker  of  Swampscott,  to  which  port 
we  had  decided  first  to  direct  our  course,  to  make 
certain  necessary  arrangements.  The  fasts  were 
cast  off  as  soon  as  I  touched  her  deck,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  she  was  going  with  wind  and  tide 
down  Boston  Harbor,  accompanied  by  a  crowd  of 
other  craft,  of  all  classes  and  dimensions,  including 
two  or  three  steamers  bound  for  Baltimore  and 
Philadelphia. 

We  had  gone  but  five  or  six  miles  when  the 
breeze  died  away  and  we  threw  over  a  cod-line, 
baited  with  a  clam,  in  hope  of  catching  something 
for  supper.  But  we  pulled  up  only  a  sea-weed, 
consisting  of  a  long,  cylindrical,  hollow  stem, 
gradually  expanding  into  a  leaf  some  ten  inches 
in  breadth.  This  plant  is  the  Laminaria  saccka- 
rina,  and  is  called  by  our  fishermen  and  sailors 
the  "  Devil's-Apron."  On  the  coasts  of  England, 
its  vulgar  name  is  "  Oarweed,"  a  term  exactly 
i* 


10  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

descriptive  of  its  shape,  which  is  that  of  an  oar  or 
paddle.  Clinging  to  the  roots  of  this  weed  was  a 
horse-muscle,  as  large  as  a  man's  hand,  which,  to- 
gether with  small  pebbles,  had  served  as  an  anchor 
to  keep  it  at  the  bottom. 

The  Professor  grasped  with  avidity  the  roots 
of  the  weed.  After  looking  at  it  attentively  a 
few  minutes,  he  pointed  out  to  me  about  a  dozen 
snake-armed  starfish  (Ophiopholis  scoloiwndrica), 
wound  around  the  tendrils  of  the  roots. 

"  This  species,"  he  said,  "  is  found  only  in  deep 
water,  and  can  only  be  got  by  dredging.  It  con- 
sists, vou  will  observe,  of  a  small  central  disk  of 
about  the  size  of  a  ten-cent  piece,  and  five  long, 
slender,  spiny  arms,  which  twine  like  serpents 
among  the  roots  of  the  sea-weed.  They  are  often 
very  brilliant,  and  beautifully  variegated  in  color. 
Most  commonly  the  disk  is  red,  with  a  pentagonal 
white  spot  in  the  middle,  while  the  arms  are  ringed 
with  red  and  brown." 

The  Professor  next  pointed  out  upon  the  drip- 
ping mass  something  that  looked  like  a  large  drop 
of  blood.  This,  he  said,  was  an  ascidian,  the  Cyn~ 
tlda  gutta.  It  was  a  small,  flat,  leathery  disk  of 
a  red  color,  of  little  thickness,  but  still  sufficient 
to  hold  a  variety  of  organs,  gills,  liver,  stomach, 
intestines,  &c.,  which  may  be  seen  upon  upturn- 
ing the  envelope  of  the  sac.  On  the  upper  sur- 
face there  are  two  apertures,  one  for  the  admission, 
the  other  for  the  expulsion  of  the  water  which 
passes  over  the  gills. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         11 

We  found  also  another  ascidian,  Cynthia  echi- 
nata,  a  sort  of  ball,  half  an  inch  in  diameter,  of 
similar  structure  with  the  other,  except  that  it 
is  globular  in  shape  and  covered  with  radiating 
tufts  of  filaments. 

These  ascidians  depend  for  food  on  what  the 
water  floats  into  their  mouths.  They  pass  their 
old  age  in  a  quiet,  sedentary  way,  attached  to 
sea-plants,  from  which  they  never  separate  except 
by  force.  In  youth,  on  the  contrary,  while  in 
the  tadpole  state,  they  are  continually  swimming 
about  tiJl  they  find  a  place  in  which  to  fix  their 
permanent  abode,  when  the  tail  of  the  tadpole 
disappears  and  the  creature  assumes  its  proper 
form  and  leads  its  proper  life. 

While  I  was  looking  at  the  ascidians,  the  Pro- 
fessor exclaimed,  "  Here  's  a  gasteropod  mollusk." 

This  was  a  limpet  with  a  broad  shell,  in  shape 
like  a  depressed  cone,  and  not  spirally  twisted 
like  most  other  univalves.  It  creeps  about  on 
the  bottom  with  its  oval,  flat  foot,  and  when  dis- 
turbed can  adhere  so  strongly  to  the  rock,  upon 
the  same  principle  that  a  boy's  round  leather 
sucker  clings  to  a  stone  or  a  brick,  that  its  de- 
struction is  the  certain  consequence  of  an  attempt 
to  remove  it.  The  specimen  we  caught,  Tec- 
tura  testudinalis,  was  ver-y  pretty,  being  externally 
brown,  with  whitish  rays,  and  internally  blue, 
with  a  brown  margin.  This  species  is  also  found 
on  rocks  near  low-water  mark. 


12  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

"  What  do  you  think  that  is  ?  "  said  the  Pro- 
fessor, handing  me  a  pebble  which  he  detached 
from  the  roots  of  the  sea-weed. 

I  looked  at  it  carefully,  and  replied,  "  A  pebble 
curiously  coated  with  lime." 

"  What  you  take  for  lime  is  a  vegetable,  the 
nullipore,  much  of  whose  fabric,  however,  is  really 
composed  of  carbonate  of  lime." 

We  found  about  twenty  species  of  marine  ani- 
mals, and  several  marine  plants  besides,  on  this 
one  piece  of  sea-weed,  accidentally  pulled  from 
the  bottom  by  a  fish-line.  It  was  thrown  over- 
board, after  we  had  sufficiently  examined  it,  and, 
as  we  floated  slowly  toward  the 'Outer  Light  of 
Boston  Bay,  Mr.  Tufts,  sitting  watchful  on  the 
vessel's  side,  grasped  with  a  boathook  a  piece  of 
eel-grass  floating  by. 

"  Give  me  that,"  said  the  Professor ;  "  it  shows 
fructification,  and  is  the  first  specimen  I  have  ever 
seen.  It  is  very  rarely  found  in  this  condition." 

The  prize,  which  he  put  for  preservation  in  a 
jar  of  alcohol,  was  a  piece  of  common  eel-grass, 
Zostera  marina.  The  seeds  are  arranged  obliquely 
in  two  rows,  for  a  short  distance,  on  one  side  of  the 
long  linear  leaf.  They  are  in  shape  like  grains  of 
rice,  but  much  smaller.  They  may  often  be  seen, 
thrown  up  on  the  beaches,  just  sprouting,  but  are 
very  seldom  found  in  situ  on  the  leaf,  so  that  most 
sea-side  observers  are  ignorant  of  this  plant's  mode 
of  fructification. 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         13 

The  wind  was  so  light  that  at  8  P.  M.  we  were 
only  ten  miles  from  Boston,  off  Nahant.  A  thick 
fog  coming  in  from  the  ocean  shut  out  everything 
from  view.  We  stood  on,  however,  through  a 
heavy  rolling  sea,  which  our  Pilot,  as  we  called 
Captain  Widger,  said  was  caused  by  the  fog, 
though  he  could  not  tell  why.  The  Nahant 
steamboat,  the  Nelly  Baker,  was  also  caught  in 
the  fog,  and  was  blowing  a  horn  at  intervals  of 
three  or  four  minutes,  and  was  answered  by  a  horn 
on  shore  to  direct  her  to  the  landing-place.  Pres- 
ently we  heard  the  breakers  on  Nahant  Point,  and 
hauling  up  to  the  northward,  we  soon  saw  the  red 
light  on  Egg  Rock  feebly  glimmering  through  the 
gloom  before  us  at  no  great  distance.  We  slowly 
passed  close  to  the  rock,  of  whose  light  we  lost 
sight  when  we  were  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile  from 
it,  so  dense  was  the  fog ;  and  soon  after  9  P.  M., 
the  wind  ceasing  entirely,  we  came  to  anchor  in 
the  bay  of  Swampscott,  about  a  mile  from  the 
shore,  in  six  fathoms  water. 

We  could  see  nothing  and  hear  nothing  but  the 
roar  of  the  breakers  on  Egg  Rock  and  the  rocky 
headland  near  the  Ocean  House.  The  sloop  lay 
in  the  trough  of  the  sea,  which  the  Professor  de- 
fined as  the  trough  out  of  which  the  sea-horses 
took  their  food.  That  gentleman,  in  spite  of  the 
seasoning  of  his  four  years'  voyage  round  the 
world,  and  of  many  other  cruises,  began  to  feel 
internal  qualms  as  the  vessel  pitched  about,  and 


14  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

presently  turned  in,  protesting  that,  in  all  his 
voyagings  he  had  never  experienced  a  more  de- 
testable specimen  of  the  "  doldrums  "  than  that 
in  which  we  now  lay.  I,  too,  for  the  first  time 
in  my  life,  felt  slightly  sea-sick,  and  also  turned  in, 
after  turning  myself  inside  out  over  the  vessel's 
side. 

The  sloop's  cabin,  which  was  low,  but  suf- 
ficiently broad,  contained  four  berths,  two  on  each 
side.  The  Professor  and  myself  took  one  side, 
the  two  seamen  turned  in  on  the  other,  while 
Mr.  Tufts  kept  watch  on  deck,  as  there  was  some 
reason  to  apprehend  that  the  sloop  might  drift, 
the  only  anchor  we  had  ready  for  use  being  a 
small  one.  At  midnight  he  was  relieved  by  the 
Skipper,  and  with  the  first  dawn  of  morning  the 
anchor  was  raised,  and  with  a  light  breeze  the 
sloop  slowly  moved  in  to  her  moorings  near  the 
shore  of  Swampscott,  —  said  moorings  consisting 
of  a  chain  fastened  to  a  rock  weighing  two  or 
three  tons,  which,  years  ago,  had  been  brought 
off  from  the  beach  and  dropped  to  the  bottom 
of  the  bay,  its  position  being  indicated  on  the 
surface  by  a  cask  attached  to  a  stout  rope,  which 
cask  was  hauled  aboard  and  made  fast  on  deck 
when  the  sloop  reached  her  moorings.  There  are 
fifty  or  sixty  fishing  sloops  and  schooners  belong- 
ing to  Swampscott,  each  of  which  has  her  own 
moorings  indicated  by  a  cask  or  some  sort  of  buoy, 
fastened  generally  to  two  old,  large  ship's  anchors. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         15 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  GUNNER.  — THE   SCULPIN.  — A  SCIENTIFIC 
SHOEMAKER. 

THE  Fourth  of  July  morning  opened  with  un- 
wonted stillness.  Nothing  could  be  heard  in  the 
fog  but  the  light  washing  of  the  waves  against 
the  sides  of  the  sloop,  and  the  low  roar  of  the 
surf  breaking  on  Nahant  and  the  rocky  shore  of 
the  mainland. 

About  six  o'clock  the  Pilot  arranged  an  iron 
furnace  on  deck,  just  in  front  of  the  cabin  door, 
in  the  cockpit  as  it  is  called,  and  began  prepara- 
tions for  breakfast.  His  first  preparation,  which, 
throughout  the  cruise,  he  never  neglected,  was 
slowly  to  fill  and  light  a  short  black  pipe,  with 
which  stuck  in  his  mouth,  he  went  about  the 
more  direct  duties  of  getting  ready  the  meal,  such 
as  cutting  up  kindlings  and  bringing  forth  charcoal 
from  the  dim  recesses  of  the  forepeak. 

Presently  he  intimated  that  we  had  better  have 
some  fish  for  breakfast,  and  producing  a  line  from 
a  locker  well  stored  with  fishing-tackle,  directed 
me  to  bait  with  clams,  of  which  we  had  a  pailful 
on  board.  I  reminded  him  that  it  was  the  Sab- 
bath. He  replied,  with  due  gravity,  that  fishing 
for  food  on  the  Sabbath  was  perfectly  lawful. 


16  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

He  would  not  fish  for  gain  or  for  sport  on  that 
day,  but  if  we  wanted  fish  for  breakfast  we  might 
take  them  with  a  clear  conscience.  Perceiving 
this  to  be  orthodox  doctrine,  I  baited  and  dropped 
a  line  over  the  side,  letting  it  go  to  the  bottom. 

In  a  quarter  of  an  hour  I  had  caught  a  dozen 
cunners,  —  enough  for  breakfast.  They  are  a 
species  of  perch,  the  sea-perch,  but  the  fishermen 
of  this  region  seldom  call  them  perch,  terming 
them  indifferently  cunners  or  nippers.  Our  Skip- 
per and  the  Pilot  generally  gave  them  the  latter 
name,  which  is  obviously  derived  from  their  nip- 
ping bite.  In  New  York  the  cunner  is  called 
the  "  bergall,"  a  Dutch  name,  and  is  known  also 
by  its  Indian  name  "  chogset."  Mr.  Perley  of 
St.  John,  whose  "  Report  on  the  Sea  and  River 
Fisheries  of  New  Brunswick,"  printed  at  Freder- 
ickton  in  1852,  is  the  best  work  yet  published  on 
American  fish  and  fisheries,  says  that  at  Boston 
it  is  called  "blue  perch."  But  I  have  never 
heard  that  name  given  to  it  in  Massachusetts, 
where  it  is  universally  known  along  the  shore. 

The  dozen  that  I  caught  that  morning  varied 
greatly  in  size  and  color.  They  were  from  five 
to  ten  inches  in  length,  and  in  color  no  two  were 
exactly  alike.  The  general  color  was  black  mixed 
with  brown,  with  faint  transverse  bars  of  an  un- 
certain dusky  hue.  One  or  two  of  the  largest 
exhibited  a  light  orange  tint  throughout  the  whole 
body,  with  the  head  and  gill-covers  of  a  chocolate 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         17 

color  mixed  with  light  blue,  and  with  blue  fins ; 
on  the  back  is  a  long  stiff  fin  with  eighteen  spines, 
which  is  erected  or  laid  back  at  the  will  of  the 
fish.  Later  in  the  cruise  I  caught  specimens  of 
the  cunner  thirteen  inches  in  length,  weighing  a 
pound,  so  black  as  to  be  hardly  distinguishable 
at  first  glance  from  the  tautog  or  black  fish,  while 
others,  equally  large,  were  throughout  of  a  vivid 
light  yellow,  varied  with  spots  and  bars  of  shades 
of  the  same  color. 

The  cunner  is  found  all  along  the  Atlantic  coast 
of  North  America,  from  Delaware  Bay  to  New- 
foundland. They  are  caught  most  plentifully  near 
rocky  shores,  and  are  supposed  to  feed  chiefly  on 
Crustacea ;  other  fish  do  not  molest  them,  from 
dread  of  their  dangerous  spines.  They  are  very 
annoying  to  the  fisher  for  tautog  or  rock-cod,  as 
they  swarm  plentifully  and  take  off  with  great 
readiness  the  bait  intended  for  larger  prey.  It 
is,  however,  an  excellent  and  favorite  pan  fish,  and 
there  are  two  or  three  old  fishermen  at  Swamp- 
scott  who  devote  themselves  entirely  to  catching 
cunners  in  the  cunner  season,  that  is,  from  the 
middle  of  June  to  the  middle  of  September. 
Vast  numbers  are  caught  in  scoop-nets,  which  are 
lowered  from  boats  into  the  still  waters,  where 
they  gather  in  shoals  so  thick  that  sometimes  a 
bushel  is  drawn  into  the  boat  at  once.  They  are 
prepared  for  the  table  by  stripping  the  skin  off 
entirely,  leaving  the  flesh  white  and  delicate.  I 


18  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

found  them  very  good  eating,  not  inferior  to  tau- 
tog,  when  both  are  cooked  in  the  same  manner. 

Beside  the  cunners,  I  caught  a  cod  weighing  a 
pound  and  a  half,  which  went  with  them  into  the 
frying-pan.  The  Professor,  despising  cunner-fish- 
ing,  was  engaged  in  catching  medusae  with  a  hand- 
net,  as  they  floated  past  the  sloop  ;  but,  on  seeing 
the  cod,  he  dropped  his  net,  baited  a  large  hook 
heavily  with  clams,  and  flung  it  overboard.  In  a 
moment  he  had  a  bite,  and,  pulling  vigorously, 
drew  up  a  large  sculpin,  or  "  grubby,"  as  the 
Skipper  called  it,  —  toad-fish,  it  is  called  in  New 
York.  For  the  benefit  of  my  inland  readers,  I 
will  try  to  describe  this  monster,  who,  if  his  size 
were  commensurate  with  his  ugliness,  would  be 
the  most  frightful  of  created  things.  The  speci- 
men we  caught  was  about  twelve  inches  long, 
with  a  big,  thick  head,  an  immense  mouth,  great 
staring  goggle  eyes,  with  black  pupils  and  golden 
irides,  fins  and  tail  variously  and  brightly  colored, 
and  with  about  fifty  spines  and  tubercles  scattered 
over  him,  chiefly  on  his  head.  The  upper  part  of 
his  body  was  of  a  light-brown  color,  with  dark,  ir- 
regular blotches ;  his  throat  and  belly  pure  white, 
his  first  back  fin  of  a  dark-brown  color,  banded 
with  yellow  ;  the  second  back  fin  of  a  greenish- 
yellow,  with  three  transverse  black  bands  ;  the 
fins  on  the  sides  of  a  dirty  white  streaked  with 
black  ;  the  tail  yellow,  with  three  transverse  black 
bars. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         19 

The  sculpin  is  a  lazy  rascal,  and  spends  his 
time  chiefly  in  lying  on  the  bottom,  with  his  fins 
spread,  waiting  till  food  is  brought  within  his 
reach.  He  eats  everything  that  is  edible,  and 
will  therefore  bite  at  any  bait.  He  is  very  easily 
caught,  and  comes  to  the  surface  unresistingly,  ex- 
hibiting, when  there,  a  ridiculously  piteous  aspect, 
gasping  with  his  great  mouth  and  staring  with  his 
goggle  eyes.  He  is  generally  put  to  death,  or 
badly  hurt,  before  being  flung  back  into  the  water, 
in  order  to  keep  him  from  biting  again  at  the 
hook.  On  this  occasion  the  Professor  sought  to 
induce  the  Pilot  to  cook  the  creature  and  try  its 
edible  qualities,  assuring  him  that  he  would  find 
it  not  bad  eating.  The  Pilot  was  deaf  to  the 
suggestion,  and,  after  knocking  the  sculpin's  head 
two  or  three  times  against  the  side  of  the  vessel, 
threw  it  overboard.  I  believe  the  Greenlanders 
are  the  only  people  who  make  the  sculpin  an  arti- 
cle of  diet,  though  I  have  heard  that  the  negroes 
of  Boston  are  accustomed  to  eat  those  they  catch 
from  the  wharves  and  bridges,  and  that  they  pro- 
nounce them  very  good.  They  are  said  to  make 
especially  good  soup.  Mr.  Perley  remarks  that 
when  the  line  fishers  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy  find 
the  sculpin  biting  too  freely  they  immediately 
change  their  ground  to  avoid  it. 

Our  breakfast  was  of  fried  fish,  boiled  eggs, 
"hard  tack," — as  the  sailors  term  crackers  and 
biscuit,  in  distinction  from  loaf  bread,  which  they 


20  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

call  "  soft  tack,"  —  and  coffee,  which  we  drank 
from  large  yellow  mugs.  After  breakfast,  about 
nine  o'clock,  the  fog 

"  rose  up  in  many  a  spectral  shape 
And  crept  away  in  silence  o'er  the  waves. 

The  sea,  from  silvery  white  to  deepest  bine, 
Changed  'neath  the  changing  colors  of  the  sky ; 
.    The  distant  lighthouse  broke  upon  the  view 
And  the  long  land-points  spread  before  the  eye." 

The  village  of  Swampscott,  with  its  small 
white  fishing-houses  lining  the  shore  of  the  shal- 
low bay,  which  is  no  harbor,  but  only  a  barely 
perceptible  indentation  in  the  coast,  shone  out  in 
the  sunshine,  backed  by  lovely  green  hills,  their 
wooded  slopes  dotted  by  cottages  and  villas.  Na- 
hant,  with  its  beaches  and  cliffs,  crowned  by  its 
immense,  fantastic-looking  hotel,  jutted  far  into 
the  sea  on  our  left,  while  to  the  right  the  surf 
was  lazily  breaking,  glancing  and  flashing  against 
the  rocky  point  on  which  stands  the  Ocean  House 
and  its  accompanying  buildings.  Behind  us  tow- 
ered Egg  Rock,  with  a  white  lighthouse  perched 
on  its  narrow  summit,  and  whiter  waves  foaming 
around  its  base. 

We  lay  moored  amid  a  fleet  of  picturesque  fish- 
ing-vessels, about  twenty  in  number,  most  of  them 
schooners,  and  ranging  in  size  from  five  to  fifty 
tons.  Craft  of  this  size  and  description  are  called 
jiggers  by  the  fishermen.  They  are  employed  in 
the  shore  fishery,  in  "market  fisheries,"  so  called 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         21 

because  the  fish  they  take  are  not  salted  or  dried, 
but  taken  fresh  to  market  and  sold  for  immediate 
consumption.  In  summer  the  Swampscott  fisher- 
men take  their  fish  direct  to  Boston  for  sale  ;  but 
in  winter  the  Boston  fish-dealers  go  to  Swamp- 
scott to  purchase.  The  number  of  jiggers  owned 
in  Swampscott  is  twenty-five,  and  they  are  manned 
by  upward  of  two  hundred  men.  There  are  be- 
sides sixty  or  seventy  dories  employed  in  fishing, 
each  worked  by  one  man.  The  dory  is  a  flat-bot- 
tomed skiff,  thirteen  feet  long.  Our  sloop  had  one 
which  usually  was  towed  at  the  stern,  but  in  bad 
weather  was  hoisted  on  board.  The  jiggers,  when 
they  go  out  to  fish  in  winter,  carry  a  dory  for  each 
man  of  the  crew,  and  when  the  vessel  anchors  on 
the  fishing-grounds,  each  man  takes  his  dory  and 
rows  to  some  distance  to  fish.  A  man  and  a  boy 
generally  remain  in  the  vessel  and  fish  from  her 
side.  They  catch  cod,  haddock,  hake,  halibut, 
pollack,  and  mackerel. 

Mr.  Tufts  had  come  on  board  while  we  were  at 
breakfast,  and  wishing  to  see  his  aquariums  I 
went  ashore  with  him  in  his  dory.  We  landed  on 
a  beach  in  front  of  his  shop,  which  is  almost  at  the 
water's  edge,  and  I  spent  half  an  hour  very  agree- 
ably in  examining  his  tanks,  of  which  he  had 
several  in  fine  condition.  Mr.  Tufts  is  a  shoe- 
maker, with  no  more  education  from  schools  than 
every  boy  in  Massachusetts  receives.  He  has 
educated  himself  by  books  and  observation  in  nat- 


22  A   SUMMER    CRUISE   ON 

ural  history,  till  he  has  become  in  his  specialty  — 
marine  zoology  —  a  very  intelligent  naturalist. 
For  a  year  or  two  past  he  had  devoted  himself  to 
collecting  and  selling  materials  for  stocking  aquari- 
ums, -the  demand  for  which  two  or  three  years 
ago  was  considerable  in  our  principal  cities.  The 
Smithsonian  Institution  and  the  Boston  Society 
of  Natural  History  employed  him  in  this  capacity. 
To  those  who  ordered  from  him  the  materials  for 
stocking  an  aquarium,  he  sent  a  keg  or  barrel  of 
sea-water,  and  a  box  of  two  compartments,  —  one 
containing  the  sea-weeds  and  some  of  the  animals, 
the  other  containing  the  more  delicate  animals  in 
a  bottle  or  jar.  While  aquariums  were  in  fashion 
he  had  full  occupation  in  this  pursuit,  but  I  learn 
that  recently  he  has  relinquished  it. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         23 


CHAPTER    IV. 

OFF  BOSTON  LIGHT.  — POLLACK.— SUN-SQUALLS.— 
BLUE-FISHING. 

AT  10  o'clock  the  anchor  was  raised,  and  with 
a  fine  breeze  we  got  under  way,  bound  for  the 
south  shore  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  intending  to 
land,  if  possible,  at  Marshfield,  and  next  at  Ply- 
mouth, to  take  on  board  an  artist  who  had  agreed 
to  meet  us  at  that  place  on  the  5th  of  July.  Soon 
after  passing  Dread  Ledge,  the  scene  of  numerous 
shipwrecks,  the  Professor,  who  was  basking  in  the 
sunshine  on  the  taffrail  of  the  sloop,  watching  the 
medusa3  floating  by,  was  suddenly  startled  by  the 
apparition  of  a  large  shark  within  a  foot  or  two  of 
his  elbow.  The  creature  was  probably  attracted 
by  the  sight  of  the  Professor's  red  shirt,  for,  before 
starting  this  morning,  we  had  discarded  our  shore 
clothes,  and  reduced  our  integuments  to  panta- 
loons and  red-flannel  shirts.  The  shark  remained 
alongside  but  for  a  minute  or  two,  after  which  he 
was  not  seen  again. 

The-  wind  was  northwest,  and  the  day  fair  and 
splendid,  and  not  too  warm,  though  it  was  very 
hot,  I  believe,  on  shore.  As  we  passed  Nahant 
Point  we  saw  a  great  fleet  of  vessels  coming  out 
of  Boston  Harbor,  spreading  their  white  wings  to 


24  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

fly  to  the  uttermost  ends  of  the  earth.  At  11, 
however,  the  wind  shifted  to  the  east,  and  the  fog, 
which  had  been  driven  out  to  sea  by  the  north- 
west wind,  came  rolling  rapidly  in  again,  involving 
everything  in  its  blinding  embraces.  Many  of  the 
vessels  we  had  seen,  returned  with  it,  not  liking  to 
keep  the  sea  during  its  continuance.  For  our- 
selves, we  skirted  slowly  along  the  grim  rocky 
barrier  of  Boston  Harbor,  with  its  frowning  gray 
rocks,  seamed  by  dikes  of  black  basaltic  trap, 
looking  so  much  like  iron  hoops  on  a  barrel  as 
to  readily  suggest  the  epithet  of  an  iron-bound 
shore.  As  the  fog  gained  on  us  and  grew  denser, 
we  ran  in,  and  came  to  anchor  between  the  island 
called  the  Outer  Brewster  and  the  island  on  which 
Boston-light  is  situated.  A  fog- bell  near  the 
lighthouse  had  been  for  some  time  sounding  its 
dismal  warning,  which  it  continued  so  long  as  the 
fog  lasted. 

The  lighthouse  is  a  tall  structure  of  brick, 
hooped  with  iron.  "I  helped  to  hoop  it  forty- 
eight  years  ago,"  said  our  Pilot.  "  Thomas  Knox, 
brother  of  General  Knox  of  the  Revolutionary 
Army,  was  the  first  keeper  of  the  light." 

Our  Pilot,  as  we  called  him,  from  his  minute 
knowledge  of  the  coast,  generally  officiated  as 
steersman,  and  always  as  cook.  He  was  sixty- 
eight  years  of  age,  of  which  fifty-five  years  had 
been  spent  on  the  sea.  He  was  still  as  hale, 
hearty,  and  active  as  most  men  of  fifty  years.  His 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         25 

life  had  not  been  without  adventure  and  strange 
vicissitudes.  In  1812,  when  Congress  declared 
war  against  England,  he  was  on  a  voyage  to  St. 
Petersburg.  On  the  return  from  that  port  his 
vessel  was  captured  by  an  English  cruiser,  and 
he  was  sent  a  prisoner  of  war  to  Chatham,  where 
he  remained  upward  of  a  year,  and  was  exchanged 
and  released  just  before  the  transfer  of  the  Ameri- 
can captives  to  the  fatal  prison  of  Dartmoor.  Dur- 
ing the  rest  of  the  war  he  sailed  from  his  native 
Marblehead  in  a  privateer,  which  made  a  good 
many  captures,  and  had  three  or  four  engagements 
with  armed  merchantmen.  He  continued  to  make 
long  voyages  for  some  years  after  peace  was  re- 
stored, but  finally  settled  down  into  the  steady 
pursuit  of  the  fisheries,  in  the  course  of  which 
he  had  become  familiarly  acquainted  with  almost 
every  bay,  harbor,  island,  headland,  reef,  shoal, 
and  rock,  from  Cape  Cod  to  Labrador. 

Two  schooners,  yachts  from  Boston,  were  fish- 
ing and  carousing  near  us,  and  a  party  from  one 
of  them  was  on  shore  on  the  lighthouse  island, 
making  chowder.  We  dined  on  boiled  ham  and 
corned-beef,  and  about  the  middle  of  the  after- 
noon, the  fog  clearing  away,  the  Skipper  suggested 
that  cunners  would  be  good  for  supper,  and  that 
they  could  be  caught  close  to  the  rocky  shores  of 
the  island  near  which  we  were  anchored.  The 
Professor  and  myself  accordingly  took  the  dory  and 
pulled  to  the  nearest  point  of  rock,  on  which  the 


26  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

surf  was  slightly  breaking.  We  anchored  the 
dory  by  her  little  iron  anchor,  as  close  as  we  could 
to  the  rocks,  and,  baiting  with  clams,  dropped  our 
lines  in  water  ten  or  twelve  feet  deep.  We 
caught  a  number  of  cunners,  somewhat  larger  than 
those  I  had  caught  at  Swampscott,  two  or  three 
small  cod,  —  rock-cod  the  fishermen  call  them,  — 
and  as  many  pollack. 

The  pollack  is  a  beautiful  fish  of  a  singularly 
elegant  shape.  From  its  agility  and  fine  form 
the  Bay  of  Fundy  fishermen  often  call  it  the 
"  sea-salmon."  It  has  a  strongly  defined  silvery 
line  running  down  the  sides.  Above  the  lateral 
line  the  color  is  a  greenish  black.  The  belly  is 
white.  It  is  caught  very  freely  on  our  shores,  in 
spring  and  autumn.  Jeffries  Ledge,  which  lies 
fifteen  or  sixteen  miles  east  by  north  of  Cape  Ann, 
is  a  favorite  fishing-ground  for  pollack,  and  im- 
mense quantities  are  taken  there  in  the  fall  of  the 
year  by  boats,  which  go  in  fleets  of  twenty  or  thirty 
for  the  purpose.  Formerly  the  fish  was  very 
little  prized,  was  hardly  ever  eaten  fresh,  and  was 
so  carelessly  cured  that  it  had  a  low  reputation 
in  the  market.  Within  a  quarter  of  a  century  it 
has  come  into  use,  and  is  a  favorite  article  when 
salted  and  dried.  It  is  also  very  good  eating  fresh, 
thougk  I  find  our  Pilot  and  Skipper  retain  their 
ancient  prejudice  against  it  in  that  state.  The 
pollack  grows  to  the  size  sometimes  of  thirty 
pounds,  but  the  average  weight  of  those  taken 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         27 

in  deep  water  is  ten  pounds.  Those  that  we 
caught  were  small,  weighing  about  a  pound  and  a 
half.  Subsequently  in  our  cruise  we  caught  them 
plentifully  of  somewhat  larger  size,  and  frequently 
saw  great  schools  of  them  darting  out  of  the  water. 

The  English  fishermen  sometimes  call  the  pol- 
lack the  cythe.  It  is  found  in  great  plenty  around 
the  coasts  of  the  British  Islands,  and  is  described 
by  English  naturalists  as  extremely  frolicsome, 
gamboling  and  flinging  itself  about  on  the  surface 
of  the  water.  It  spawns  in  winter,  and  the  young 
abound  near  the  edge  of  the  tide,  in  rocky  places, 
at  the  beginning  of  summer. 

Mr.  Perley  says  that  from  almost  every  project- 
ing point  in  the  Bay  of  Passamaquoddy,  where 
there  is  a  run  of  tide,  young  pollack  may  be  taken 
during  the  summer,  by  rod  and  line,  very  rap- 
idly, either  with  bait  or  any  gaudy  artificial  fly, 
even  of  rude  construction.  The  most  attractive 
is  the  scarlet  ibis  with  gold,  by  which  also  white 
sea-trout  is  caught  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence. 

The  sky  and  sea  were  so  beautiful,  and  the  air 
was  so  delicious,  the  surf  broke  so  splendidly  over 
the  many  rocky  points  and  ledges  which  surround- 
ed us,  that  I  fear  we  prolonged  our  fishing  beyond 
what  the  necessities  of  supper  strictly  required. 
A  curious  whitish  appearance  on  the  summit  of 
the  huge  rock  near  which  our  dory  lay  had  at- 
tracted our  attention  from  the  sloop.  As  the 
Pilot  had  said  that  it  was  caused  by  the  drop- 


28  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

pings  of  sea-birds,  the  Professor  jumped  ashore  to 
examine  it;  instead  of  guano,  it  proved  to  be 
white  quartz. 

When  we  returned  to  the  sloop,  we  found  the 
seamen  fast  asleep.  On  awaking,  and  inspect- 
ing wind  and  tide,  they  decided  that  we  must 
remain  where  we  were  for  the  present.  Refresh- 
ing ourselves  with  lemonade,  concocted  by  the 
Skipper,  into  which  he  had  put  a  little  whiskey  to 
correct  the  acidity,  we  gave  ourselves  up  to  the 
contemplation  of  a  fleet  of  medusae,  which  were 
sailing  by  in  prodigious  numbers.  The  Professor 
rigged  a  dip-net,  and  caught  a  variety  of  speci- 
mens. 

The  common  names  for  these  curious  and 
beautiful  creatures  are  sea-nettles  and  sea-jellies. 
Around  Boston  Harbor  the  common  people  call 
them  sun-fish.  Our  Pilot  called  them  sun-squalls, 
which  obviously  is  a  derivation  from  the  German 
name  for  them,  schirm-quallen,  which  means  "  um- 
brella-jellies," and  is  highly  descriptive  of  the 
animal.  They  consist  of  a  transparent  gelatinous 
substance,  of  a  circular  form,  and  when  floating 
have  the  shape  of  an  expanded  umbrella,  without 
the  handle.  They  contract  and  expand  in  a  man- 
ner similar  to  the  opening  and  shutting  of  an  um- 
brella, except  that  they  do  not  shut  up  quite 
so  tightly.  The  most  common  form  which  we 
saw  here  was  that  of  the  Aurelia  aurita,  which 
sometimes  swim  in  such  abundance  in  Boston 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         29 

Harbor  as  to  impede  the  motions  of  boats.  It  is 
easily  distinguished  by  the  four  stomachs  in  its 
centre,  each  surrounded  by  a  circle  of  ovaries 
which  are  very  conspicuous,  because,  unlike  the 
rest  of  the  animal,  they  are  of  an  opaque  whitish 
or  pinkish  white  color.  From  the  centre,  between 
these  organs,  hang  four  fringed  tentacles  by  which 
the  food,  consisting  chiefly  of  minute  Crustacea,  is 
caught  and  conveyed  to  the  mouth.  The  margin 
of  the  umbrella  is  closely  surrounded  with  long 
cilia,  which  Avave  gracefully  in  the  water  with  the 
motions  of  the  animal. 

We  captured  a  number  of  large  ones,  a  foot  in 
diameter,  and  weighing  several  pounds,  in  sub- 
stance and  consistence  exactly  like  jelly.  But  if 
one  of  these  is  exposed  to  the  sun  a  few  hours, 
it  will  evaporate  and  dry  away  till  nothing  is  left 
but  some  small  shreds  of  membranous  skin.  Those 
we  caught  were  of  various  species,  some  of  them 
well  deserving  their  popular  name  of  sea-nettles, 
for  in  handling  them  I  was  stung  severely,  with  an 
inflammation  which  lasted  two  or  three  hours.  By 
some  naturalists  this  stinging  is  supposed  to  be  a 
sort  of  electric  shock,  but  it  has  been  ascertained 
that  it  is  mechanical,  and  is  caused  by  the  darting 
of  minute  barbed  stings,  shaped  like  arrows. 

As  I  was  inspecting  one  of  these  animals,  the 
Professor  made  a  sudden  dash  with  his  dip-net. 

"  Ah  !  "  he  cried,  exultingly,  "  I  have  caught  a 
Staurophora  laciniata,  which  is  very  rare.  They 


30  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

are  hardly  ever  seen  in  the  bay."  We  subse- 
quently, however,  saw  it  in  considerable  numbers. 
It  is  so  transparent  that  it. could  scarcely  be  dis- 
tinguished in  the  water  were  it  not  for  its  two 
lines  of  opaque  ovaries  arranged  in  the  form  of  a 
cross,  and  intersecting  at  the  centre,  at  which  the 
extremely  small  mouth  of  the  animal  is  situated. 
The  mouth  has  no  tentacles  in  this  species.  The 
margin  of  the  umbrella  is  ciliated. 

I  spent  a  good  part  of  the  afternoon  in  watch- 
ing these  sun-squalls,  as  the  Skipper  called  them, 
which  I  think  are  the  loveliest  and  the  strangest 
of  all  the  productions  of  the  sea.  In  their  delicate 
and  fragile  and  evanescent  beauty,  I  can  compare 
them  to  nothing  on  the  land  except  the  soap-bub- 
bles blown  by  a  child.  No  one  who  has  not  seen 
them  in  their  proper  element  can  appreciate  their 
exquisite  grace.  To  me,  one  of  their  greatest 
charms  was  the  exceeding  strangeness  of  their 
forms  and  motions,  which  are  wholly  unlike  those 
of  any  other  living  thing.  And  strangeness,  as 
Lord  Bacon  long  ago  said,  is  one  of  the  first 
elements  of  beauty.  I  saw,  while  on  this  cruise, 
I  suppose  a  hundred  thousand  sun-squalls,  —  in 
some  places  the  sea  swarms  with  them,  —  yet  I 
never  beheld  one  pass  without  a  sensation  of 
eager  delight  and  curiosity. 

About  6  o'clock  the  Pilot  took  the  dory  and 
went  ashore  to  the  lighthouse  in  search  of  milk. 
As  he  was  returning  from  this  expedition  a  sud- 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         31 

den  commotion  in  the  water  near  the  sloop  at- 
tracted my  attention.  It  occurred  once  or  twice 
before  I  called  the  Professor,  who  was  in  the 
cabin  making  desperate  efforts  to  light  a  cigar, 
the  fog  having  affected  our  matches  with  damp- 
ness. 

"  A  school  of  bluefish ! "  exclaimed  the  Pro- 
fessor excitedly,  as  his  eye  caught  the  movement 
to  which  I  pointed.  He  shouted  to  the  Pilot  to 
make  haste  with  the  dory,  and  throwing  on  an 
overcoat,  seized  from  the  locker,  where  we  kept 
our  fishing-tackle,  a  long,  stout  line,  at  the  end  of 
which  was  a  shining  spoon-shaped  piece  of  pewter 
terminated  by  a  large  hook.  This  apparatus  is 
called  a  jig.  As  the  dory  approached  he  jumped 
in,  nearly  oversetting  it  in  his  hurry,  and  telling 
the  Pilot  to  row  in  the  direction  where  the  blue- 
fish  last  showed  themselves,  threw  overboard  the 
jig  and  rapidly  unwound  the  line,  till  about  thirty 
fathoms  were  trailing  behind  him. 

Presently  I  saw  him,  standing  in  the  stern  of 
the  boat,  pull  in  rapidly  the  line.  He  had  caught 
a  large  bluefish,  which  he  held  up  for  me  to  look 
at.  I  went  below  to  see  what  the  books  said  of 
the  animal.  Shortly  afterward,  hearing  the  Pro- 
fessor alongside,  I  went  on  deck.  A  young  man, 
a  stranger,  was  sitting  at  the  oars.  The  old  Pilot, 
unable  to  get  any  milk  at  the  lighthouse,  had  gone 
ashore  in  pursuit  of  the  article  on  the  Outer 
Brewster,-  on  whose  green  surface  he  had  espied 


82  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

a  cow.  A  young  fisherman,  resident  there,  had 
volunteered  to  row  the  dory  while  the  Professor 
trailed  for  bluefish,  and  the  Professor,  after  catch- 
ing two  or  three,  had  run  alongside  to  give  me  a 
chance  at  the  sport. 

The  sun  was  just  setting,  and  as  we  rowed 
about  I  forgot  the  bluefish  in  the  beauty  of  the 
purple  sea,  of  the  soft,  fleecy,  rosy  clouds,  and 
the  plashing  lines  of  surf  gently  breaking  over 
the  reefs  and  on  the  rocky  points  of  the  islands. 
The  vigorous  arms  of  the  fisherman  sent  the  dory 
along  at  a  rate  that  kept  the  jig  spinning  on  the 
surface  like  a  fish  in  rapid  motion.  Presently  the 
bluefish  broke  close  to  it,  three  or  four  rushing  at 
it  at  once,  with  great  ferocity.  A  sudden  jerk,  a 
rush  to  the  right,  then  to  the  left,  a  plunge,  a  leap, 
a  strong,  savage  pull,  told  that  a  large  bluefish  was 
on  the  hook.  I  drew  him  in  as  quickly  as  possible, 
which  was  no  slight  job,  for  I  had  out  at  least 
thirty  fathoms  of  line,  and  my  oarsman,  to  whom 
the  sport  was  entirely  new,  in  his  excitement  kept 
the  dory  going  as  fast  as  his  arms  could  send  her. 

On  getting  the  bluefish  alongside,  you  must  lift 
him  at  once  into  the  boat,  as  he  will  disengage 
himself  if  the  line  is  allowed  to  slacken  in  the 
least.  The  fellow  I  captured  was  about  two  feet 
long.  The  jig,  thrown  over  again  quickly,  was 
hardly  out  to  the  full  length  of  the  line  before  the 
fish  were  dashing  at  it.  Several  caught  it  in  suc- 
cession, and  got  away,  their  mouths  probably  tear- 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.        33 

ing  with  the  powerful  tug  they  gave.  At  length 
one  hooked  himself  firmly.  I  pulled  him  in  and 
found  he  was  somewhat  smaller  than  the  other. 
In  a  few  minutes  a  third  was  hooked,  so  large 
that,  after  hauling  him  in  with  difficulty  to  the 
side  of  the  dory,  and  seeing  that  he  had  the  hook 
apparently  well  down  his  throat,  I  slackened  the 
line  to  give  him  a  chance  to  play  a  little.  He  dis- 
engaged himself  instantly  and  was  off. 

The  bluefish  broke  water  next  time  at  some  dis- 
tance, and  while  we  were  rowing  toward  them  I 
saw  a  large  fish,  probably  a  shark,  chasing  them 
vigorously.  This  put  an  end  to  our  sport,  for  the 
bluefish  suddenly  disappeared.  We  saw  no  more 
of  them,  though  we  rowed  about  in  all  directions, 
till  it  grew  quite  dark.  Directing  my  oarsman  to 
pull  to  the  Outer  Brewster,  where  he  had  resided, 
he  said,  for  ten  years  past,  catching  lobsters  for 
a  living,  I  exchanged  him  for  the  Pilot,  who  for 
nearly  an  hour  had  been  sitting  patiently  on  a 
rock  by  the  shore,  with  his  pitcher  of  milk  beside 
him.  The  Brewster  man  gladly  accepted  two  of 
the  bluefish  for  his  services  as  oarsman.  As  he 
seemed  greatly  enamored  of  the  sport  of  catching 
them,  we  gave  him  a  jig  to  enable  him  to  follow  it 
in  the  future. 

The  bluefish  is  sometimes  called  "  horse-mack- 
erel "  by  the  fishermen,  though  the  real  horse- 
mackerel  is  a  very  different  fish.  At  Philadelphia 
I  believe  they  are  called  "  tailors."  They  range 
2*  o 


34  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

in  size  from  three  to  thirty  pounds,  though  speci- 
mens of  the  last-mentioned  weight  are  extremely 
rare.  Their  average  size  in  the  waters  of  New 
England  is  four  or  five  pounds,  I  think.  They 
are  heartily  anathematized  by  the  fishermen ;  for, 
though  a  fine  fish  themselves,  and  popular  as  food, 
they  drive  off  from  the  fishing -grounds  all  the 
other  species  on  which  the  fishermen  depend  for 
support.  The  appearance  of  the  bluefish  is  the 
signal  for  the  disappearance  of  the  cod,  mackerel, 
haddock,  and  pollack,  which  fly  before  these  fierce 
and  insatiable  marauders  as  the  bluefish  them- 
selves fly  before  the  shark. 

The  bluefish  is  singularly  erratic  in  its  habits. 
A  century  or  two  ago  it  was  plentiful  on  our 
coast,  and  was  held  in  high  estimation  as  an 
article  of  food.  During  the  last  half  of  the  last 
century  and  earlier  years  of  this  it  disappeared 
entirely.  Within  forty  years  it  has  returned,  first 
appearing  on  the  coast  south  of  Cape  Cod,  near 
Nantucket,  New  Bedford,  and  Martha's  Vineyard. 
In  course  of  time  it  made  its  way  into  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  and  appears  to  be  gradually  working  to 
the  northward.  Bluefish  have  passed  Cape  Ann 
within  two  or  three  years,  though  not  in  great 
numbers,  and  a  few  have  been  seen  this  year 
as  far  north  as  the  Isles  of  Shoals,  off  Ports- 
mouth. 

The  bluefish  belongs  to  the  mackerel  family. 
The  upper  part  of  his  body  is  of  a  bluish  color, 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         35 

whence  his  name  ;  the  lower  part  of  the  sides  and 
the  belly  are  whitish  or  silvery. 

We  supped  heartily  on  cunners  and  rock-cod, 
and  at  10  o'clock  turned  in  to  sleep,  the  sky  being 
cloudless  and  the  sea  calm. 


36  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 


CHAPTER    V. 

A  MIDNIGHT  WATCH.— RUNNING  DOWN  THE  SOUTH 
SHORE.  — PLYMOUTH.  — THE  ASSYRIAN. 

JUST  at  midnight  we  were  all  roused  from  sleep 
by  a  great  crash  in  the  cabin.  Tumbling  out  of 
my  berth  in  a  hurry,  I  found  the  little  sloop  toss- 
ing and  pitching  furiously.  The  table,  which  ex- 
tended the  whole  length  of  the  cabin,  and  which 
we  had  left,  on  turning  in,  covered  with  books, 
cups,  lamps,  and  miscellaneous  articles,  had  got 
unfastened,  and  at  length  upset  by  the  rolling  of 
the  vessel.  The  Skipper  and  the  Pilot  were  al- 
ready on  deck,  where,  by  the  uproar,  it  was 
evident  that  something  was  going  wrong.  Fol- 
lowing them  I  learned  that  the  tide  was  setting 
strongly  up,  while  a  northwest  wind  was  blowing 
strongly  down  the  bay.  The  conflict  of  these  twe» 
forces  produced  a  rough  sea,  under  the  effect  of 
which  our  craft  was  dragging  her  anchor  and  drift 
ing  toward  a  not  very  distant  reef.  The  sky  was 
overclouded,  and  the  darkness  was  relieved  only 
by  the  intermittent  flashes  of  the  revolving-light. 
The  seamen  were  at  work  forward  trying  to  pre- 
vent the  vessel  from  drifting,  in  which  they  at 
length  succeeded,  though  only  partially ;  for  the 
Pilot  muttered  as  he  went  below,  that  if  the  wind 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         37 

did  not  freshen,  he  guessed  she  'd  not  drift  much 
before  daylight. 

I  lingered  awhile  on  deck  listening  to  the  sa- 
lutes of  cannon,  like  distant  thunder,  from  all  the 
surrounding  shores  of  the  bay,  announcing  the 
termination  of  the  Sabbath  and  the  beginning  of 
the  celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July.  The  cold 
at  length  drove  me  below,  and  I  turned  in  again, 
but  the  violent  rocking  of  the  vessel  and  the  un- 
usual noises  prevented  me  from  getting  to  sleep. 
By  and  by  I  rose  in  the  darkness,  put  on  all  the 
coats  I  could  lay  hands  upon,  and  groped  my  way 
to  the  deck.  The  light,  as  it  revolved,  threw  over 
the  vessel  so  strong  a  blaze  that  I  could  read  the 
smallest  print.  Looking  at  my  watch,  I  saw  that 
it  was  just  2  o'clock.  The  clouds  were  breaking 
away,  and  the  moon,  like  the  light  of  the  light- 
house, shone  out  at  intervals  with  a  fitful  bril- 
liancy. The  Skipper,  who  had  been  watching 
since  midnight,  uncertain  if  his  anchor  would 
hold,  said  the  wind  was  changing  ;  and  as  the 
vessel  now  drifted  but  little,  he  would  turn  in  if 
I  was  going  to  stay  on  deck. 

For  two  hours  I  stood  at  the  companion-way, 
leaning  over  the  boom,  watching  the  black  and 
angry  waves,  the  flashing  light,  and  the  moon, 
now  clouded,  now  unveiled,  and  listening  to  the 
rote  of  the  sea,  as  our  ancient  Pilot  always  calls 
the  sound  it  makes  when  breaking  over  ledges  or 
rolling  on  the  shore.  The  word  is  from  the  Latin 


38  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

rota,  and  I  think  is  used  by  Shakespeare.  It  is 
now  obsolete  except  among  seamen. 

The  firing  of  cannon  at  various  points  on  the 
land  was  audible  at  intervals,  and  now  and  then  a 
fish  would  leap  near  the  vessel,  falling  back  with  a 
great  splash  into  the  water.  Occasionally  I  could 
dimly  discern,  through  the  gloom,  the  masts  of 
ships  that  were  taking  advantage  of  the  tide  to 
glide  into  the  harbor.  They  had  a  singularly 
spectre-like  appearance,  and  stalked  along  sol- 
emnly and  silently,  like  the  ghosts  of  Ossian's 
heroes. 

It  was  a  strange,  wild  scene,  the  most  pecu- 
liar feature  being  the  great  revolving  light,  now 
throwing  a  ghastly  glare  over  the  vessel  and  the 
water,  and  in  a  moment  after  subsiding  into  sud- 
den darkness.  I  watched  it  with  a  sort  of  fascina- 
tion till  the  gray  light  of  morning  began  to  appear, 
and  some  sea-birds  on  a  neighboring  island  to  twit- 
ter, and  a  cock  to  crow  faintly  in  the  distance. 
Shortly  afterward  the  sun  rose,  and  as  the  wind 
and  weather  were  fair  I  roused  the  crew.  The 
Skipper  went  ashore  at  the  lighthouse  to  fill  our 
water-firkins.  The  Pilot  cooked  the  bluefish  for 
breakfast,  and  in  half  an  hour  we  were  standing 
toward  Plymouth  with  a  stiff  breeze  from  the 
northeast. 

At  7  o'clock  we  passed  the  Light-ship  at  Mi- 
not's  Ledge,  off  Cohasset,  the  scene  of  many  ship- 
wrecks, and  the  site  of  the  iron  lighthouse,  which, 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         39 

with  its  keepers,  was  overwhelmed  by  the  great 
gale  in  April,  1851.  The  Light-ship  is  a  yellow 
two-masted  vessel,  strongly  built  and  well  an- 
chored, with  three  or  four  heavy  spare  anchors 
hanging  from  her  bow  and  stern,  to  be  used  in 
case  of  a  gale.  She  had  several  flags  flying  in 
honor  of  the  day. 

Running  down  the  South  Shore  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  keeping  generally  at  the  distance  of 
two  miles,  at  a  little  past  10  o'clock  we  were  off 
the  Gurnet,  a  long,  high  promontory,  stretching 
out  from  Marshfield,  with  two  lighthouses  close 
together  on  its  seaward  extremity,  well-known  to 
mariners  as  the  Gurnet  Lights.  This  high  point 
is  supposed  by  some  antiquarians  to  have  been 
discovered  by  the  Northman,  Thorwald  Ericsson, 
who  in  the  second  summer  of  his  sojourn  in  Vin- 
land  landed  here,  saying  to  his  companions,  "  This 
spot  is  beautiful ;  here  should  I  like  to  build  my- 
self a  habitation."  Being  shortly  afterward  killed 
in  battle  with  the  natives,  his  body  was  buried  on 
the  promontory,  which,  from  the  crosses  erected 
over  his  grave,  is  called  in  the  Sagas,  Krossaness, 
or  Cross  Cape. 

No  one  on  board  had  ever  sailed  into  Plymouth 
Harbor  except  the  old  Pilot,  and  he  but  once,  for- 
ty years  before.  The  Professor,  sitting  on  deck 
with  the  Coast  Survey  chart  of  the  harbor  before 
him,  undertook  to  pilot  us  in,  —  an  undertaking 
not  without  hazard,  as  the  bay  abounds  in  shoals, 


40  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

and  the  channel  is  intricate.  We  got  in  success- 
fully, however,  and  anchored  just  outside  the  sand- 
spit  which  serves  as  a  breakwater  to  the  harbor. 
I  believe  it  is  thought  to  be  the  spot  where  the 
Mayflower  anchored.  At  all  events,  it  is  the 
place  where,  five  or  six  years  ago,  I  got  aground 
in  a  schooner  attempting  to  sail  out  of  Plymouth 
on  a  fishing  excursion  with  a  party  of  friends,  and 
lay  through  a  long  summer's  day  studying  the 
habits  and  manners  of  crabs,  lobsters,  and  floun- 
ders, as  we  watched  them  prowling  about  our 
vessel. 

The  bay  that  forms  the  harbors  of  Plymouth 
and  Duxbury  is  a  broad  and  beautiful  sheet  of 
water,  almost  landlocked,  with  its  entrance  facing 
the  east.  On  the  north,  Captain's  Hill,  the  resi- 
dence of  the  doughty  old  Puritan  leader,  Captain 
Miles  Standish,  rears  its  round,  smooth  summit  to 
the  height  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  and  con- 
ceals from  view  the  village  of  Duxbury.  Still 
farther  to  the  north,  behind  other  hills,  lies  Marsh- 
field,  the  home  and  grave  of  Webster.  Far  to  the 
south,  fronting  the  Gurnet,  and  bounding  the 
outer  bay,  the  high  and  heavily-wooded  promon- 
tory of  Manomet  extends  for  miles  into  the  ocean. 
Plymouth  itself  is  built  on  the  slope  of  hills  and 
the  valleys  between,  and  extends  for  about  a  mile 
along  the  shore,  with  here  and  there  a  steeple  or 
a  great  elm  towering  above  its  brown  roofs. 

Schools  of  bluefish  were  swimming  to  and  fro, 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         41 

and  the  Professor  took  the  dory  and  tried  to  catch 
them  by  trailing ;  but  they  would  not  bite.  An 
old  fisherman,  seventy  years  of  age,  who  rowed 
his  dory  alongside  the  sloop  to  have  a  little  chat 
with  us,  said  that  he  had  been  trying  to  take  them 
all  day  without  success.  He  said,  also,  that  they 
had  driven  nearly  all  other  fish  away. 

The  broad  surface  of  the  bay  was  lively  with 
pleasure-boats,  gayly  decorated  with  flags,  and 
filled  with  young  men  and  women.  The  air  also 
was  alive  with  flocks  of  black-headed  terns  or 
"mackerel  gulls,"  as  the  Pilot  called  them,  be- 
cause they  make  their  appearance  in  our  waters 
about  the  same  time  that  the  mackerel  comes. 
The  Professor  went  ashore  on  the  sand-spit  near 
which  we  had  anchored,  to  look  for  crabs  and 
shells,  and  roused  a  great  multitude  of  these  gulls, 
who  flew  up,  wheeling  about,  and  uttering  pecu- 
liarly shrill  and  painful  cries.  They  had  appar- 
ently been  holding  a  convention  on  the  shore, 
though  perhaps  they  were  only  engaged  in  a  social 
clam-feast  over  the  mollusks  which  the  waves  had 
washed  up.  He  saw,  also,  sandpipers  running 
along  the  beach,  diligently  scrutinizing  every  hole 
which  seemed  likely  to  contain  the  small  crusta- 
ceans which  form  their  food.  One  of  these  crusta- 
ceans, a  Talitrus,  was  remarkable  for  the  height 
and  quickness  of  its  leaps,  so  high  and  quick,  in- 
deed, that  it  could  scarcely  be  captured  by  the 
hand.  A  few  specimens  were  secured  by  making 


42  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

rapid  grasps  at  the  spot  where  they  seemed  likely 
to  alight. 

Among  the  insects  which  the  Professor  found 
on  this  sand-spit,  a  race-horse  beetle,  Cidndela^ 
was  conspicuous  for  its  neat  shape  and  bright  col- 
ors. These  insects  must  live  on  animal  food,  for 
there  is  no  vegetable  growth  on  the  sands-  which 
could  afford  them  sustenance. 

But  the  most  singular  animal  found  on  the  sand- 
spit  was  a  creature  which  the  Professor  said  he 
should  certainly  take  to  be  the  "  ant-lion,"  if  the 
ant-lion  had  ever  before  been  found  in  this  coun- 
try. It  was  an  insect  with  a  soft  grub-like  body 
and  a  hard  beetle-like  head,  of  a  greenish  color, 
with  golden  reflections  or  indiscences,  and  armed 
with  a  strong  pair  of  forceps-like  jaws.  It  had  ex- 
cavated a  pit  about  an  inch  in  depth,  at  the  bot- 
tom of  which  it  lay  concealed,  the  head  and  pow- 
erful jaws  covered  by  the  sand.  Around  the  mar- 
gin the  grains  of  sand  were  so  loosely  arranged 
that  the  slightest  disturbance  would  cause  them  to 
roll  down  into  the  cavity,  carrying  with  them  into 
the  clutches  of  the  "  ant-lion  "  any  unlucky  insect 
which  happened  to  pass  that  way  and  to  tread  on 
the  margin  of  the  pit. 

About  sunset,  the  Professor  and  both  the  sea- 
men went  to  the  town  in  a  dory,  to  mail  our  let- 
ters and  to  bring  off  the  Artist,  who  was  expected 
down  by  the  afternoon  train  from  Boston.  Left 
alone  in  charge  of  the  vessel,  I  was  reading  in  the 
cabin,  when  I  heard  a  shout  close  at  hand : 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         43 

"  Sloop  ahoy !  " 

I  stepped  on  deck.  A  large  schooner,  with  a 
numerous  party  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  on  board, 
was  slowly  sweeping  by. 

"  Captain,  how  near  can  we  go  to  that  p'int 
yonder  ?  "  said  the  master  of  the  schooner,  indi- 
cting with  his  hand  the  sand-spit  at  the  entrance 
of  the  harbor. 

I  was  so  much  overcome  by  this  unexpected 
compliment  to  my  nautical  appearance,  that  I  in- 
considerately replied,  "  O,  quite  near,  quite  near," 
as  if  I  knew  all  about  it.  The  schooner  stood  on, 
and  I  watched,  not  without  trepidation,  her  course. 
If  she  had  got  aground,  I  should  have  been  in  a 
pretty  fix.  Fortunately  the  tide  was  high,  and 
she  rounded  the  point  safely. 

Late  in  the  evening,  the  dory  returned  from 
Plymouth,  bringing  off  the  Artist,  who,  much  to 
our  surprise  and  pleasure,  was  accompanied  by  the 
Assyrian,  as  his  friends  are  wont  to  call  him,  from 
his  striking  resemblance,  in  face  and  beard,  to  the 
Ninevite  sculptures  dug  up  by  Layard  and  Botta. 
Their  arrival  completed  the  number  we  had  fixed 
upon  as  desirable  for  the  cruise,  four  being  in  fact 
as  many  as  the  sloop  could  possibly  accommodate. 
The  seamen,  indeed,  for  the  rest  of  the  voyage 
slept  on  the  cabin  floor,  having  relinquished  their 
berths  to  the  new-comers. 

We  sat  on  deck  for  hours  after  supper,  watch- 
ing the  fireworks  of  Plymouth,  which  we  answered 


44  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

with  Roman-candles  and  blue-lights,  of  which  we 
had  provided  a  considerable  stock,  not  only  for 
amusement,  but  to  use  as  signals  at  night.  The 
Assyrian  lighted  his  meerschaum,  the  seamen  their 
clay  pipes,  and  the  rest  of  us  our  cigars.  And  so 
we  smoked  and  talked,  —  talked  of 

"  The  strange,  old-fashioned,  silent  town,  — 
The  lighthouse,  the  dismantled  fort,— 
The  wooden  houses,  quaint  and  brown." 

"  We  spoke  of  storm  and  shipwreck, 

Of  the  seaman's  anxious  life  : 

How  he  floats  'twixt  sky  and  water, 

'Twixt  joy  and  sorrow's  strife. 

"  We  spoke  of  coasts  far  distant, 

We  spoke  of  South  and  North,  — 
Strange  men  and  stranger  customs 
That  those  wild  lands  send  forth." 

Nor  did  our  conversation  cease  until  the  moon, — 

"  O'erhanging  bright  and  brave 
The  pale  green-glimmering  ocean-floor, 
Silvers  its  wave,  its  rustling  wave 
Soft  folded  on  the  shelving  shore. 

"  O  lovely  moon,  a  lonely  place 
Is  this  thou  cheerest  with  thy  face ; 
Three  sand-side  houses,  and  afar 
The  steady  beacon's  faithful  star ! " 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         45 
CHAPTER    VI. 

PROVINCETOWN.  —  SAND-DABS.  —  COCKTAILS. 

EARLY  next  morning,  Tuesday,  July  6,  we  set 
sail  for  Provincetown,  Cape  Cod,  about  twenty- 
five  miles  distant.  The  day  must  have  been  an 
excessively  hot  one  on  shore,  for  even  on  the 
water  we  found  the  heat  oppressive,  as  in  thin- 
nish  clothing  we  lay  basking  on  deck.  The  wind 
was  so  light  that  it  was  some  hours  before  we  got 
sight  of  Cape  Cod.  As  the  sloop  slowly  glided 
along  we  gathered  at  the  bows  to  watch  the  sun- 
squalls  floating  by  in  countless  numbers.  The 
Skipper  coiled  himself  up  in  the  shadow  of  the 
sail,  and  went  to  sleep.  Our  course  was  headed 
direct  for  Provincetown,  whose  town-house,  built 
high  on  a  hill,  and  looking  like  a  church,  was  visi- 
ble long  before  the  rest  of  the  place  came  in  sight. 

Presently  a  slight  divergence  attracted  my  at- 
tention to  our  venerable  Pilot.  He  was  seated  as 
usual  at  the  helm,  his  hand  firmly  grasping  the 
tiller,  his  head  erect,  but  his  eyes  were  close  shut. 
The  extreme  heat  had  overpowered  his  habitual 
vigilance.  Curiosity  led  me  to  await  the  result. 
The  Professor  had  taken  the  telescope  to  inspect 
a  large  white  object  floating  on  the  waves,  which 


46  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

we  had  been  for  some  time  approaching,  and  which 
proved  to  be  the  carcass  of  a  porpoise.  The  yaw- 
ing of  the  vessel  as  the  Pilot's  slumber  grew  heav- 
ier distracted  his  aim  at  the  porpoise.  He  lowered 
the  telescope,  looked  carefully  at  each  end,  read- 
justed the  focus  and  tried  it  again.  He  caught  a 
glimpse  of  the  land  ahead.  His  eye,  experienced 
on  our  coast,  saw  that  it  was  not  Provincetown. 

"Halloo!"  he  cried,  "what  does  this  mean? 
You  're  heading  for  Truro,  Captain  Widger." 

The  Pilot  made  no  reply.  He  still  clung  to  the 
tiller,  but  his  chin  had  descended  to  his  breast,  and 
his  honest,  good-humored,  weather-beaten  visage 
had  disappeared  in  the  voluminous  recesses  of  a 
hat  that  must  have  been  the  fashion  at  Marble- 
head  forty  years  ago.  The  Professor  surveyed 
through  his  spectacles  for  a  moment  the  sleeping 
helmsman,  then,  while  the  Artist  rapidly  sketched 
his  figure,  took  a  good  long  look  at  him  through 
the  telescope,  and  finally  approached  and  gently 
tried  to  detach  the  tiller  from  his  gripe  without 
awakening  him.  But  though  insensible  to  sound, 
the  old  sailor  started  at  the  first  touch,  however 
light.  He  shook  his  head  to  jerk  his  hat  back 
to  its  proper  position,  rubbed  his  eyes,  gave  a  vig- 
orous push  to  the  tiller,  and  said,  with  a  light 
blush,  that  it  was  very  warm,  and  he  had  been 
almost  asleep. 

"  It  is  very  hot  indeed,"  replied  the  Professor, 
"  and  if  you  will  turn  in  and  take  a  nap  I  will 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.        47 

take  the  helm.  I  am  tired  of  doing  nothing,  and 
should  like  to  steer  awhile." 

Captain  Widger  complied  with  the  suggestion, 
and  in  half  a  minute  was  sleeping  as  soundly  as 
a  man  could  sleep.  I  had  observed  already  the 
remarkable  ease  with  which  he  went  to  sleep  at 
night.  But  hereafter  I  have  kept  a  sharp  lookout 
for  him  on  hot  days  and  in  plain  sailing.  In  bad 
weather  or  in  dangerous  positions  no  pilot  could 
be  more  wide  awake  or  more  trustworthy. 

It  was  a  deliciously  easy,  lazy  voyage.  We 
were  ten  hours  in  going  twenty-five  miles.  To 
be  sure,  we  lay-to  occasionally  to  fish  and  dredge, 
but  that  did  not  detain  us  long,  for  we  caught 
nothing,  —  not  even  a  bite.  Either  the  bluefish 
had  -really  driven  everything  else  out  of  the  bay, 
or  we  did  not  cast  our  lines  in  the  right  places. 
The  population  of  the  sea,  like  the  population  of 
the  land,  is  fond  of  concentrating  in  favorable 
localities,  in  cities  and  towns  as  it  were,  leaving 
wide  spaces  desert,  or  at  best  very  thinly  peopled. 
A  line  dropped  at  random  in  the  ocean  may  fall 
upon  a  finny  Pekin  or  London,  or,  on  the  other 
hand,  upon  an  absolute  Sahara,  crossed  only  here 
and  there  at  long  intervals  by  scanty  caravans 
of  fish.  The  experienced  fisherman  knows  the 
populous  spots,  and  governs  himself  accordingly. 
But  revolutions  and  conquests  and  massacres  oc- 
cur at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  as  well  as  on  shore. 
The  place  that  was  once  prosperous  and  populous 


48  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

decays  and  becomes  desolate.  The  prototypes  of 
Nineveh  and  Babylon,  of  Baalbec  and  Palmyra, 
exist  in  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  it  must  have  been 
their  deserted  precincts  into  which  we  dropped 
our  fruitless  lines.  The  bluefish  is  as  cruel  and 
sanguinary  a  devastator  as  the  Mede,  the  Tartar, 
or  the  Turk. 

About  half-way  between  Plymouth  and  Prov- 
incetown  we  dredged  in  water  thirty  fathoms  deep. 
The  bottom  was  soft  and  muddy,  and  yielded  us 
some  curious  shells,  such  as  are  never  seen  upon 
the  shore.  These  were  various  species  of  Nucula 
and  Leda,  remarkable  for  their  clean,  glossy  ap- 
pearance, bright -green  color,  and  the  comb-like 
teeth  with  which  their  hinge  is  armed.  They 
protruded  a  strong,  fleshy  foot  from  between  the 
valves  of  the  shell,  striking  the  hard  surface 
of  the  deck  in  vain  attempts  to  burrow  in  it  as 
they  do  in  the  soft,  muddy  bottom  on  which  they 
live. 

About  4  P.  M.  we  cast  anchor  in  Provincetown 
harbor,  which  is  one  of  the  best  ports  in  the  world, 
easy  of  access,  secure  and  capacious  enough,  with 
sufficient  depth  of  water,  to  shelter  a  thousand 
line-of-battle  ships.  It  is  admirably  adapted  by  its 
quality  and  position  for  a  great  naval  station.  In 
the  war  of  1812  it  was  occupied  by  the  British 
cruisers,  and  they  could  have  found  no  point  bet- 
ter situated  from  which  to  harass  the  commerce 
of  the  North.  It  was  this  harbor  that  the  May- 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         49 

flower  first  entered,  and  here,  on  board  that  ves- 
sel, was  born  Peregrine  White,  the  first  New- 
Englander  of  European  parentage. 

The  Professor  took  the  dory  and  boarded  a  lob- 
ster-man who  was  lying-to  just  outside  the  harbor. 
We  wanted  lowers  for  bait,  and  we  wanted  them 
for  food.  The  Professor  returned  in  triumph  with 
a  dozen  good-sized  ones,  for  which  he  had  paid 
three  cents  apiece.  In  Boston  or  New  York  they 
would  have  cost  five  times  as  much.  He  brought 
also  the  important  information  that  the  harbor, 
near  where  we  had  anchored,  abounded  with 
flounders  or  sand-dabs  of  large  size,  even  twenty 
pounds  in  weight. 

The  Professor,  the  Artist,  and  myself  made 
preparations  for  fishing  immediately,  directing  the 
Pilot,  meanwhile,  to  boil  a  lobster  for  supper,  and 
to  boil  him  thoroughly,  not  less  than  an  hour. 
We  were  particular  in  these  injunctions,  because 
by  this  time  we  had  detected  in  the  Pilot,  in  his 
capacity  of  cook,  a  proclivity  to  boil  eggs  too 
much  and  other  things  too  little. 

The  Assyrian,  who  despised  flounder -fishing, 
however  big  the  flounders,  said  the  heat  made  him 
thirsty,  and  that  furthermore  he  never  ventured 
to  eat  lobster  unless  he  had  previously  fortified 
what  he  called  his  "  stom-jack "  by  some  pre- 
ventive of  colic  or  cholera-morbus.  Accordingly, 
while  we  were  getting  ready  our  lines  and  bait,  he 
persuaded  the  Skipper  to  row  him  ashore  at  the 

3  D 


50  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

town,  in  order  that  he  might  quench  his  drouth 
with  a  cocktail,  or  something  of  the  sort. 

When  the  dory  returned,  the  Professor,  the 
Artist,  and  I  rowed  to  within  a  hundred  yards  of 
the  shore,  opposite  the  town,  and  dropped  the 
boat's  killock  in  deep  water.  WeJiad  strong  cod- 
lines,  with  two  large  hooks  each,  which  we  baited 
with  pieces  of  lobster,  —  a  very  difficult  bait  to 
keep  on.  The  lines  hardly  reached  bottom  before 
the  flounders  began  to  bite  so  rapidly  that  they 
kept  us  actively  employed  in  putting  on  bait,  they 
took  it  off  so  easily.  Nevertheless,  in  the  course 
of  an  hour  we  had  caught  twenty  or  thirty,  —  all 
large  ones,  weighing  several  pounds  each.  The 
largest  was  twenty-eight  inches  in  length  by  eight 
in  breadth.  They  bit  so  eagerly  that  twice  we 
caught  two  at  one  haul  of  the  same  line. 

This  fish,  though  called  flounder  in  New  York, 
is  termed  "sand-dab"  by  the  Boston  fishermen, 
who  confine  the  name  flounder  to  a  smaller  spe- 
cies, which,  however,  does  not  differ  greatly  from 
it  except  in  size.  In  shape  it  resembles  the  long 
flounder  of  the  British  fishermen,  its  breadth  be- 
ing less  in  proportion  to  the  length  than  in  any 
other  of  its  tribe.  One  side  of  the  "  sand-dab  "  — 
the  right  side  —  is  of  reddish-brown  color ;  the 
other  side  is  white.  The  eyes  of  the  fish  are  both 
upon  the  right  side.  The  mouth  is  very  large ; 
the  upper  jaw  projects  somewhat  beyond  the 
lower,  and  both  jaws  are  furnished  with  a  single 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         51 

row  of  prominent,  sharp  teeth,  separated  from 
each  other,  so  that  when  the  mouth  is  closed  the 
teeth  of  one  jaw  shut  into  the  space  between  those 
of  the  opposite  jaw. 

The  blowing  of  a  horn  on  board  the  sloop  an- 
nounced to  us  that  supper  was  ready.  We  wound 
up  our  lines,  and,  rowing  first  to  the  Helen,  de- 
posited our  fish  on  the  deck,  giving  directions  to 
the  Pilot  to  cook  one  of  the  flounders  while  we 
went  to  the  town  for  the  Assyrian,  whom  the 
Skipper  said  he  had  seen,  through  the  telescope, 
sitting  on  the  edge  of  the  wharf,  for  the  last  half- 
hour,  evidently  waiting  for  us. 

We  found  the  descendant  of  Ninus  and  Semira- 
mis  in  an  unsatisfied  state  of  mind.  As  we  rowed 
off,  he  gave  us  his  opinion  of  Provincetown.  The 
place,  he  said,  was  dry  and  dreary  to  the  last  de- 
gree, with  a  very  repulsive-looking  set  of  inhabit- 
ants. After  walking  about  for  some  time,  he  ven- 
tured to  inquire  of  one  of  the  natives  for  a  tavern. 
The  man  directed  him  to  an  edifice  which  bore 
upon  its  front,  in  large  letters,  the  words  "  Union 
House."  He  entered,  and  was  accosted  by  a 
dentist,  the  sole  occupant,  who  offered  to  pull  his 
teeth  on  moderate  terms.  On  learning,  however, 
what  his  visitor  wanted,  the  dentist  directed  him 
to  a  neighboring  apothecary  as  the  only  man  in 
town  who  kept  for  sale  anything  to  drink.  The 
Assyrian,  in  his  usual  confident  way,  demanded  a 
cocktail.  The  apothecary  looked  at  him  for  some 


52  A   SUMMER    CRUISE   ON 

moments  with  the  air  of  a  person  who  is  too  much 
astonished  to  speak,  and  then  replied,  with  grave 
deliberation,  "  I  do  not  know  what  you  mean  by 
a  cocktail." 

The  Assyrian,  in  his  turn,  stared  with  astonish- 
ment. Here  was  a  depth  of  ignorance  hardly 
credible.  At  length  he  intimated  that  he  wanted 
something  to  drink.  He  was  offered  soda-water, 
qualified,  at  his  choice,  with  lemon,  strawberry, 
pineapple,  sarsaparilla.  He  shook  his  head.  Was 
there  nothing  else  ?  "  Nothing." 

A  bright  idea  flashed  on  the  Assyrian.  He  de- 
scribed to  the  apothecary  the  method  of  concoct- 
ing a  cocktail.  The  apothecary  listened  like  one 
to  whom  a  new  science  is  unfolded.  Gradually 
light  dawned  upon  his  mind.  He  produced,  from 
some  dusty  shelf,  an  almost  forgotten  solitary  bot- 
tle of  sherry  bitters.  The  Assyrian  seized  it  with 
alacrity.  In  the  absence  of  anything  better,  cock- 
tails could  be  made  with  sherry  bitters.  The 
other  requisite  materials  were  on  board  the  sloop. 

Supper  was  ready  when  we  got  on  board.  We 
found  the  flounder  savory,  the  lobster  was  boiled 
enough,  and  before  turning  in  at  nine  o'clock  we 
drank  with  the  Assyrian  a  cocktail  of  his  com- 
pounding to  the  speedy  enlightenment  of  Prov- 
incetown  in  the  knowledge  of  national  beverages. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         53 
CHAPTER    VII. 

PROVINCETOWN.  — THE  SANDS  OF  CAPE  COD. 

WHEN  we  went  on  deck  in  the  morning, 
Wednesday,  July  7,  the  sky  was  cloudless,  the 
breeze  gentle,  and  the  long  length  of  Province- 
town,  brilliant  with  white  paint,  stretched  before 
us  gleaming  in  the  soft,  warm  sunshine.  It  is  a 
village  of  three  thousand  inhabitants,  dwelling  in 
five  or  six  hundred  houses,  nearly  all  of  which 
stand  on  one  narrow  street,  that  runs  along  the 
shore  of  the  harbor  between  the  water  and  a  ridge 
of  huge  sand-hills.  The  Skipper  took  the  dory  and 
went  to  the  town  in'  search  of  "  soft-tack,"  —  loaf 
bread.  He  could  not  get  any,  and  we  breakfasted 
on  hard-tack,  flounders,  and  coffee.  After  break- 
fast we  all  went  ashore  to  see  the  place,  except 
the  Assyrian,  who  protested  that  he  had  had 
enough  of  it. 

Having  suffered  for  several  days  with  a  violent 
toothache,  my  first  business  was  to  visit  the  den- 
tist of  whom  the  Assyrian  had  made  mention.  In 
the  search  for  him  we  discovered  so  many  of  the 
same  profession  that  we  were  forced  to  form  unfa- 
vorable conclusions  about  the  state  of  the  teeth 
of  the  Cape-Codders.  These  numerous  dentists, 
however,  did  not  all  make  a  living  by  their  pro- 


54  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

fession,  for  we  found  that  one  of  them  combined 
with  it  the  calling  of  an  auctioneer  and  of  a  hard- 
ware and  furniture  dealer.  The  one  whom  we 
sought  was  a  dentist,  and  nothing  else.  He  did 
his  business  well,  and  relieved  me  of  my  offending 
molar  in  a  dexterous  manner.  His  office  appar- 
ently comprised  the  whole  of  a  deserted  hotel, 
the  chief  room  of  which,  used  at  times  for  dancing, 
had  a  curious  resemblance  to  a  ship's  cabin  on  a 
large  scale,  as  befitted  the  maritime  character  of 
the  town. 

As  the  Professor  desired  to  examine  a  beach 
four  or  five  miles  distant,  on  which  the  Atlantic 
rolls  its  waves  unchecked  by  any  land  nearer  than 
the  "far-off  bright  Azores,"  we  hired  a  wagon,  a 
span  of  horses,  and  a  queer  little  urchin  of  a 
driver,  to  conduct  us  thither  over  the  sand-hills. 
In  a  few  minutes  we  had  left  behind  us  the  single 
street  of  the  village  and  merged  into  a  desert  of 
white  sand,  that  looked  as  if  it  had  been  some  time 
rolled  into  high  waves  by  a  raging  tempest,  and 
then  suddenly  arrested  and  fixed  before  it  had 
time  to  subside  to  a  level.  Here  and  there  in  the 
dells  and  hollows  were  patches  of  vegetation,  al- 
ders, huckleberry-bushes,  low  pitch-pines,  scrub- 
oaks,  and  clumps  of  wild  roses,  glowing  with  the 
brilliant  hues  which  the  sea  air  gives  to  flowers. 
But  outside  of  the  village  there  were  no  houses, 
fences,  paths,  or  any  traces  whatever  of  man  or 
beast.  It  was  a  wilderness,  as  it  was  when  it  first 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         55 

met  the  eyes  of  the  Mayflower  pilgrims.  The 
horses  that  tugged  us  onward  had  the  muscles  of 
their  rumps  unusually  developed  from  working 
always  fetlock  deep  in  sand. 

At  length  we  gained  the  shore  and  stood  by  the 
sea,— 

"  The  boundless  sea,  that  washeth  many  lands." 

As  Heine  sings,  — 

"  The  billows  were  rolling, 
Were  rolling  and  roaring, 
The  sun  poured  down  incessant ; 
Affrighted,  the  flocks  of  the  sea-mews 
Fluttered  away,  loud  screaming." 

A  prodigious  multitude  of  terns  flew  up  at  our 
approach,  and  wheeled  around  in  the  air  clanging 
their  wild  and  piercing  cries.  No  other  signs  of 
life  were  visible,  save  a  few  white  sails  far  away 
on  the  horizon.  Signs  of  death  were  around  us  in 
the  shape  of  fragments  of  wrecks  thrown  high  on 
the  beach  by  storms.  I  picked  up  a  piece  of  bam- 
boo which  perhaps  had  floated  from  some  vessel 
returning  from  India  or  China,  or  the  isles  of  the 
East.  The  Professor  strolled  one  way,  and  the 
Artist  another,  in  search  of  specimens,  and  pres- 
ently disappeared  behind  the  curving  sand-hills. 
The  urchin  of  a  driver  busied  himself  commend- 
ably  with  bringing  from  the  nearest  patch  of 
green  roots  of  a  species  of  binding  grass,  which 
he  planted  here  and  there  in  the  desert  sand  to 
grow  and  spread.  More  idly  inclined  than  either 


56  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

of  these,  and  feeling  perhaps  unusually  poetical, 
after  getting  rid  of  my  aching  tooth,  I  sat  down 
on  a  piece  of  wreck  and  abandoned  myself  to  the 
spirit  of  Whittier's  lines  on  Hampton  Beach  :  — 

"  Good  by  to  pain  and  care  !  I  take 

Mine  ease  to-day ; 

Here,  where  the  sunny  waters  break, 
And  ripples  this  keen  breeze,  I  shake 
All  burdens  from  the  heart,  all  weary  thoughts  away. 

"  I  draw  a  freer  breath  ;  I  seem 

Like  all  I  see,— 

Waves  in  the  sun,  the  white-winged  gleam 
Of  sea-birds  in  the  slanting  beam, 
And  far-off  sails,  which  flit  before  the  south  wind,  —  free. 

"  What  heed  I  of  the  dusty  land 

And  noisy  town  ? 
I  see  the  mighty  deep  expand 
From  its  white  line  of  glimmering  sand 
To  where  the  blue  of  Heaven  on  bluer  waves  shuts  down  ! 

"  In  listless  quietude  of  mind, 

I  yield  to  all 

The  change  of  cloud  and  wave  and  wind, 
And,  passive  on  the  ground  reclined, 
I  wander  with  the  waves,  and  with  them  rise  and  fall." 

The  ocean  was  calm,  and  at  a  distance  looked 
like  glass,  but  the  tide  was  coming  in,  and  the  long 
lines  of  surf  were  slowly  rolling  up  the  sand  with 
a  dull,  continuous  roar. 

"  The  waves  that  plunged  along  the  shore 
Said  only,  Dreamer,  dream  no  more." 

I  turned  to  the  little  urchin  who  was  busily 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.        57 

transplanting  roots  of  grass,  and,  admiring  his  in- 
dustry and  his  practical  philanthropy,  rose  to  assist 
him  in  spreading  the  growth  of  verdure  for  the 
benefit  of  future  generations  of  Cape  -  Codders  ; 
but  as  I  sank  to  the  ankles  in  the  sand  after  a  few 
steps  inland,  contented  myself  with  showing  a 
proper  appreciation  of  his  labor  by  giving  him  a 
dime.  Reseating  myself,  I  resumed  the  contem- 
plation of  the  sea. 

"  And  still  the  legions  charged  the  beach, 
And  rang  the  battle-cry,  like  speech ; 
But  changed  was  the  imperial  strain  : 
It  murmured,  Dreamer,  dream  again." 

The  presence  of  the  urchin  plying  his  task  with 
redoubled  zeal  disturbed  and  annoyed  me,  —  what 
business  had  he  to  be  working  when  he  might  just 
as  well  be  idle  ?  —  and  I  gave  him  another  dime 
to  take  his  wagon  and  horses  out  of  sight  behind 
a  sand-hill,  and  continue  his  grass-planting  some- 
where else.  And  then,  with  nothing  to  break  the 
spell  of  the  sea,  I  sat  there  gazing  vaguely  at  it 
until 

"  The  creeping  tide  came  np  along  the  sand 
And  o'er  and  o'er  the  sand, 
And  round  and  round  the  sand, 
As  far  as  eye  could  see." 

By  and  by  the  red  shirt  of  the  Artist  and  the 

red  shirt  of  the  Professor  came  slowly  into  view, 

returning  from  their  explorations.     The  Professor 

had  found  nothing  worth  noting,  and  the  Artist 

3* 


58  A  SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

had  discovered  only  a  hut  built  by  the  Humane 
Society  for  the  relief  of  shipwrecked  persons  who 
might  make  their  way,  cold  and  wet  and  hungry, 
to  the  shore.  We  mounted  the  wagon,  the  little 
urchin  resumed  the  reins  and  drove  back  to  the 
village,  at  the  entrance  to  which  the  Artist  and  I 
got  out  and  walked  from  one  end  of  the  place  to 
the  other,  on  a  narrow  plank  sidewalk,  examining, 
as  we  went,  a  number  of  salt-pans,  and  wondering 
at  the  extreme  ingenuity  which  the  inhabitants 
had  displayed,  in  so  varying  their  domestic  archi- 
tecture that  no  one  of  the  six  hundred  wooden 
houses  was  like  another. 

The  afternoon  was  passed  in  dredging  the  har- 
bor and  in  searching  for  shells  on  the  long,  sandy 
point  opposite  the  town ;  the  evening  in  writing 
letters  and  in  listening  to  yarns  about  money-dig- 
ging and  privateering,  on  both  which  topics  the 
Skipper  and  the  Pilot  had  respectively  much  to 
tell. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         59 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

FROM  PROVINCETOWN  TO  SWAMPSCOTT.  —  MINOT'S 
LEDGE  LIGHTHOUSE.  —  THE  SKATE  AND  THE  KRA- 
KEN. 

ON  Thursday,  July  8,  at  8  A.  M.,  we  made 
sail  for  Swampscott,  fifty  miles  distant,  as  the  crow 
flies.  We  were  going  thither  to  have  some  alter- 
ations made  in  the  sloop's  cabin,  which  would  ren- 
der it  a  little  more  commodious.  The  day  was 
fair,  but  the  wind  was  high  and  the  sea  very  rough 
outside  of  the  harbor.  The  Artist,  as  we  passed 
Long  Point,  braced  himself  at  the  companion-way 
to  take  a  sketch  of  the  picturesque  lighthouse 
there,  but,  before  he  had  finished,  a  wave  struck 
the  sloop  on  the  bows  and  poured  over  her,  drench- 
ing the  sketch-book,  giving  the  Artist  a  ducking, 
and  kicking  up  a  bobbery  among  the  Professor's 
specimen  jars  and  bottles  that  sent  that  gentleman 
rushing  into  the  cabin  in  a  state  of  high  excite- 
ment. Fortunately,  not  many  were  smashed,  and 
the  remainder  were  made  secure  with  a  care  that 
preserved  them  from  similar  mishaps  during  the 
rest  of  the  cruise. 

We  had  a  splendid  run,  the  sky  cloudless,  the 
sea  sparkling,  and  the  wind  fair  and  steady.  As 
we  neared  the  south  shore  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 


60  A  SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

the  sea  grew  smoother,  and  it  was  delightful  to 
recline  on  deck  and  listen  to  the  cool  rushing  and 
dashing  of  the  water  as  we  swept  by  Plymouth, 
Duxbury,  Marshfield,  and  Cohasset.  Now  and 
then  a  hot  puff  of  air  would  come  from  the  land, 
seeming  almost  fetid  from  contrast  with  the  pure 
air  of  the  sea,  and  reminding  me  strongly  of 
Washington  in  that  horrid  hot  month,  of  June. 
We  learned  afterward  that  it  was  an  excessively 
hot  day  ashore. 

As  we  passed  Cohasset  we  saw  men  at  work 
on  Minot's  Ledge,  building  the  lighthouse.  Two 
small  schooners  were  anchored  near  them.  The 
structure  is  of  granite,  and  only  the  foundation 
was  yet  laid,  although  the  work  was  begun  three 
years  before.  The  rock  on  which  it  stands  is  of 
irregular  form,  forty-eight  feet  long  and  thirty-six 
feet  broad,  and  is  covered  even  at  low  tide.  There 
are  only  three  hours  in  the  day  when  it  is  possible 
to  work  there,  and  sometimes  for  months  together 
the  weather  is  such  that  nothing  at  all  can  be  done. 
In  1856,  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  hours'  work 
was  done,  in  1857,  one  hundred  and  thirty  hours', 
and  in  1858,  two  hundred  and  eight  hours'.  After 
the  foundation  was  complete,  however,  the  work 
went  on  much  more  rapidly.  The  lighthouse  is 
a  circular  cone,  thirty  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base 
and  ninety  feet  high,  and  strengthened  by  large 
iron  rods  running  through  several  courses  of  stone. 
The  courses  were  first  set  up  and  fitted  on  shore 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         61 

and  then  carried  off  in  vessels  and  fixed  in  their 
places. 

We  reached  our  moorings  at  Swampscott  at 
5  P.  M.  Our  good  friend  Tufts,  the  aquarium- 
stocker,  was  on  the  watch  for  us,  and  soon  came 
off  with  our  letters  and  papers.  While  supper 
was  getting  ready,  we  fished  from  the  vessel  and 
caught  cunners,  cod,  pollack,  sculpins,  and  floun- 
ders, using  for  bait  lobster  and  salted  clams.  The 
flounders  were  much  smaller  than  those  we  caught 
at  Provincetown,  and  were  what  is  called  "  flat- 
fish" in  New  York,  I  believe.  They  are  taken 
all  along  our  -Northern  coast,  in  shallow  water. 
On  the  coast  of  Maine  they  are  speared  in  the 
winter  when  lying  in  the  mud,  the  fishers  detect- 
ing them  by  their  eyes,  which  stick  out  from  the 
mud  that  covers  the  rest  of  the  body.  They 
are  very  abundant  on  the  coasts  of  New  Bruns- 
wick and  Nova  Scotia,  and  are  taken  so  plenti- 
fully in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  that  they  are 
largely  used  for  manuring  land.  "  I  have  seen," 
says  Mr.  Perley,  "  potatoes  being  planted  in  hills, 
when  the  only  dressing  consisted  of  fresh  floun- 
ders, which  were  used  with  a  lavish  hand." 

The  cod  we  caught  were  of  a  beautiful  red 
color,  and  weighed  about  two  pounds  each.  The 
Pilot  called  them  "  rock-cod,"  and  selected  them 
for  supper,  throwing  the  cunners,  pollack,  and 
flounders  overboard  as  worthless  in  comparison. 
This  species  is  of  unrivalled  excellence  for  the 


62  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

table.  It  is  very  numerous  on  the  coast  of  Nova 
Scotia  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Grand  Manan. 

I  caught  this  evening,  for  the  first  time,  a  skate, 
—  a  very  singular-looking  fish,  which  sometines  is 
found  of  great  size,  weighing  as  much  as  two  hun- 
dred pounds.  The  one  I  caught  weighed  proba- 
bly three  or  four  pounds.  It  was  a  flat  fish,  with 
a  broad,  brown  back,  somewhat  raised  in  the  mid- 
dle, the  under  side  of  the  body  of  a  dirty  white. 
The  snout  was  sharp  and  projecting,  shaped  like  a 
spade ;  the  mouth  large,  and  armed  with  strong 
teeth.  It  had  a  tail  like  a  monkey's,  long  and 
slender,  and  armed  with  spines.  There  were  also 
numerous  spines  upon  the  body.  When  hooked 
it  pulled  with  some  force,  and  when  thrown  on 
deck  rolled  itself  up  like  a  hedgehog,  lashing  the 
deck  with  its  tail,  and  uttering  a  faint  squeak  as  if 
in  anger. 

Mr.  Perley  remarks,  that  the  peculiar  form  of 
the  skate  adapts  it  admirably  to  exist  near-  the 
bottom.  Its  usual  mode  of  progression  is  by  a 
slight  undulating  motion  of  its  pectoral  fins,  some- 
thing between  flying  and  swimming.  It  "is  capa- 
ble, apparently,  of  great  muscular  exertion.  With 
its  powerful  snout  it  roots  up  clams  and  crushes 
them  between  its  flattened  teeth,  which  appear  to 
act  upon  each  other  like  the  cylinders  of  a  rolling- 
mill.  It  also  feeds  on  other  fish,  as  well  as  crus- 
tacea. 

The  young  of  the  skate  are  deposited  by  the 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         63 

parent  fish  in  their  horny  cases,  nearly  square  in 
form.  These  are  often  found  empty  on  the  shore, 
and  are  familiarly  known  as  "  sailors'  purses."  As 
food,  large  quantities  of  the  skate  are  consumed  in 
London,  where  the  flesh  is  considered  delicate  and 
well-flavored.  It  is  also  eaten  by  the  French, 
and,  I  believe,  is  sold  in  the  markets  of  Boston 
and  New  York.  But  our  fishermen  treated  the 
creature  with  great  disdain,  and  did  not  seem  to 
like  to  have  it  on  board.  The  old  Pilot  expressed 
especial  disgust  at  the  suggestion  of  eating  it. 

The  skate  is  taken  all  along  our  coast  with 
hook  and  line,  by  the  cod-fishers.  A  specimen 
has  been  seen  by  Dr.  Storer  measuring  fifty-four 
inches  long  and  thirty-six  inches  wide.  I  have 
myself,  in  the  subsequent  part  of  the  cruise,  taken 
one  that  was  nearly  three  feet  in  length,  and  have 
also  seen  two  large  ones  pulled  up  at  one  haul  on 
a  single  line.  In  the  seas  of  Great  Britain  they 
have,  been  found  of  the  weight  of  two  hundred 
pounds.  But  even  these  were  pigmies  compared 
with  one  caught  in  the  vicinity  of  Guadaloupe  in 
the  West  Indies,  which  is  said  to  have  measured 
twenty-five  feet  in  length  by  thirteen  in  breadth. 
Who  knows  but  that  their  power  of  growth  is 
illimitable,  and  that  the  kraken  of  the  Norwegians 
is  after  all  no  fiction,  but  only  a  skate  of  antedi- 
luvian age  and  expansion  ? 

After  supper  the  Skipper  and  the  Pilot  went 
ashore  to  sleep  at  their  own  homes  in  the  town. 


64  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

After  their  departure  we  lighted  our  cigars,  and 
held  a  council  of  war.  It  was  evident  that  the 
next  day  would  be  consumed  by  the  carpenters  in 
altering  the  cabin.  We  resolved,  therefore,  to 
spend  our  share  of  it  in  dredging  and  fishing  in 
the  vicinity,  off  Nahant  and  at  Dread  Ledge,  the 
formidable  roar  of  whose  breakers  was  sounding 
in  our  ears.  On  the  day  after,  Saturday,  we 
would  sail  for  Marblehead,  stopping  to  fish  on 
the  way  at  certain  famous  shoals  and  ledges. 
Sunday  we  should  pass  at  Marblehead.  The  rest 
of  the  week  we  decided  should  be  given  to  Cape 
Ann  and  the  Isles  of  Shoals.  Another  Sunday 
would  find  us  at  Portsmouth  or  Portland,  as  the 
wind  and  weather  might  serve,  and  the  succeed- 
ing week  would  take  us  through  Casco  Bay  and 
its  hundred  islands,  to  the  lakes,  and  caves,  and 
mountain  peaks,  and  gorges  of  Mount  Desert. 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         65 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE  HELEN'S    CABIN.  —  HARDHEADS.  —  DREAD    LEDGE 
FISHING. 

FRIDAY  morning,  July  9,  I  awoke  soon  after 
daylight,  and,  by  a  prodigious  exertion  of  energy, 
got  up.  I  did  not  dress,  for  on  board  the  Helen, 
during  this  cruise,  we  have  undressed  only  when 
we  bathed  or  went  ashore,  in  which  latter  case, 
to  prevent  misconception,  I  will  state,  that  after 
undressing  we  dressed  ourselves  again  in  shore 
clothes  ;  the  main  constituents  of  shore  clothes 
being  coats  and  white  shirts.  White  shirts  and 
coats  we  put  on,  however,  only  when  visiting 
some  considerable  place,  like  Gloucester,  Ports- 
mouth, or  Portland.  At  other  places  we  gener- 
ally went  ashore  in  our  sea  rig,  consisting  of  panta- 
loons well  smeared  with  the  slime  of  fish,  and 
bleached  with  constant  drippings  and  splashings 
of  sea  water,  and  thick  red-flannel  shirts,  one  or 
more  shirts  being  worn  at  a  time,  according  to  the 
weather  or  the  fancy  of  the  wearer.  The  Pro- 
fessor, whose  ardor  in  pursuit  of  science  exposed 
him  most  to  the  wet,  generally  arrayed  himself  in 
three  shirts  at  once  ;  the  oldest  in  service  being 
worn  uppermost  and  outermost. 

Getting  up,  as  I  said,  soon  after  daylight,  and 


66  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

giving  myself  a  shake  by  way  of  making  my  toi- 
lette, I  could  scarcely  keep  from  laughing  as  I 
looked  around  the  little  cabin.  The  Professor, 
whose  berth  was  on  the  same  side  with  my  own, 
was  sleeping  almost  in  a  sitting  posture,  his  back 
propped  up  by  a  pillow,  a  great  coat,  and  a  huge 
volume  of  the  United  States  Coast  Survey  Re- 
port. He  had  fallen  asleep  while  reading,  for  his 
unextinguished  lamp  yet  burned  dimly  beside  him, 
and  his  spectacles  were  still  on  his  nose.  His 
blanket  was  lying  folded  beneath  him,  and  he  had 
passed  the  night  close  to  the  open  cabin-door,  with 
no  other  protection  from  the  cool  air  than  his  three 
shirts.  They,  however,  seemed  to  be  sufficient, 
for  he  was  sleeping  soundly  and  comfortably. 

The  Assyrian's  berth  was  opposite  to  the  Pro- 
fessor's. An  extra  mattress,  which  the  two  sea- 
men spread  for  themselves  on  the  floor  when  they 
were  on  board,  had  been  thrust  on  the  top  of  his 
mattress  during  the  day.  He  had  neglected  to 
remove  it  on  turning  in,  and  the  space  that  was 
left  between  it  and  the  ceiling  was  barely  suffi- 
cient for  his  somewhat  ample  proportions.  He 
had  no  pillow,  and  with  his  head  thrown  back  and 
his  mouth  resolutely  shut,  he  was  sounding  a  blast 
with  such  sonorous  and  sustained  vigor  that  I 
could  almost  imagine  he  had  served  as  a  trum- 
peter through  all  the  seventeen  campaigns  of  his 
famous  ancestor,  the  mighty  Temenbar,  who,  if 
he  writ  his  annals  right  on  the  sculptured  walls 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         67 

of  his  palace,  was  the  most  successful  and  sangui- 
nary of  the  long  line  of  Ninevjte  kings  and  con- 
querors. In  the  struggles  and  contortions  induced 
by  his  inconvenient  posture,  the  Assyrian  had 
twisted  his  blanket  around  him^in  such  fashion, 
that,  while  a  triple  fold  enveloped  his  body,  his 
nether  continuations  were  exposed  at  full  length, 
protected  only  by  his  coarse  blue  pantaloons. 

The  Artist,  on  the  contrary,  was  lying,  like 
gray-haired  Saturn,  "  quiet  as  a  stone,"  snugly 
wrapped  in  his  blanket,  which  swathed  him  as 
closely  as  a  mummy  is  swathed  by  its  bandages. 
He  had  converted  his  portmanteau  into  a  pillow, 
and  was  taking  his  sleep  with  a  resolute  expres- 
sion of  countenance,  \vhich  said  plainly  that  he 
was  very  comfortable,  and  did  not  mean  to  be  dis- 
turbed. 

I  pinched  the  Assyrian's  nose  till  he  opened  his 
mouth,  which  I  have  always  found  an  effectual 
mode  of  checking  a  snorer,  and  went  on  deck  to 
see  the  sun  rise. 

The  air  was  mild  and  still,  and  the  view  superb. 
Before  leaving  us  the  evening  before,  the  Skipper 
had  purchased  from  a  neighboring  jigger  a  num- 
ber of  "  hardheads,"  as  he  called  them,  for  bait. 
This  fish  belongs  to  the  shad  and  herring  family, 
and  is  found  in  prodigious  numbers  all  along  our 
coast.  It  is  known  by  a  variety  of  names,  "  bony- 
fish,"  "  pauhagen,"  "  menhaden,"  and  "  moss- 
bonker."  Dr.  Storer  in  his  Report  on  the  Fishes 


68  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

of  Massachusetts,  uses  the  term  menhaden,  while 
the  moss-bonker  is  used  by  Mr.  Perley,  and  Mr. 
Spencer  F.  Baird  in  his  Smithsonian  Report  on 
the  Fishes  of  the  New  Jersey  Coast.  The  fish- 
ermen whom  we  met  on  this  cruise  never  gave  it 
any  other  name  than  "  hardhead,"  which  is  lit- 
erally descriptive  of  the  hardness  of  its  head.  It 
grows  to  the  length  of  fourteen  inches,  and  is 
about  three  inches  in  width.  The  upper  part  of 
the  body  is  of  a  greenish-brown  color,  the  lower 
part  whitish.  The  back  is  slightly  arched,  the 
mouth  opens  very  wide,  the  lower  jaw  being 
shorter  than  the  upper.  The  flesh  is  sweet, 
though  so  full  of  small  bones  that  it  is  seldom 
eaten  by  those  who  can  get  other  fish. 

The  hardhead  enters  Massachusetts  Bay  about 
the  middle  of  May,  and  remains  till  November. 
It  is  exclusively  a  sea  fish,  and  does  not,  like  the 
herring  and  shad,  ascend  the  fresh-water  streams. 
They  swarm  in  every  bay  and  inlet  in  immense 
schools,  swimming  at  the  surface,  with  their  dor- 
sal fins  sticking  out  of  the  water,  and  causing  by 
their  rushing  a  rippling,  which  the  fishermen  term 
"breaking,"  and  which  is  sometimes  visible  at  a 
great  distance.  The  shark  and  bluefish  follow, 
and  feed  upon  these  schools,  making  such  ravages 
among  them  that  the  gulls  and  other  sea  birds 
sometimes  join  in  the  chase  for  the  purpose  of 
picking  up  the  fragments  that  have  fallen  from 
the  jaws  of  the  finny  slaughterers.  It  is  also  said 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         G9 

to  be  a  favorite  food  of  the  great  whale,  who  takes 
several  hogsheads  into  his  mouth  at  a  time,  though 
his  gullet  is  so  small  that  he  can  only  swallow 
them  one  by  one. 

The  common  mode  of  taking  the  hardhead  is 
by  seines,  many  thousand  being  taken  at  a  single 
haul.  They  are  sold  for  bait  to  the  cod  and  mack- 
erel fishers,  and  are  also  used  in  great  quantities 
as  manure  and  for  the  oil  which  they  contain.  I 
have  visited  some  establishments  on  the  islands  on 
the  coast  of  Maine  where  oil  was  expressed  from 
these  fish.  They  are  first  chopped  up  and  boiled, 
and  the  oil  skimmed  off'.  The  residuum  is  then 
put  into  a  press,  and  still  more  oil  is  extracted. 
What  is  left  of  the  fish  is  then  used  as  manure. 
The  entire  fish,  however,  just  as  it  comes  from 
the  sea,  is  largely  used  for  manure  on  Cape  Cod, 
on  the  southern  coast  of  New  England,  and  on  the 
coasts  of  Long  Island  and  New  Jersey.  They  are 
spread  over  the  land  at  the  rate  of  2,000  or  3,000 
to  an  acre,  and  are  ploughed  or  hoed  in.  In  plant- 
ing corn,  a  single  fish  is  sometimes  placed  in  each 
hill,  to  the  manifest  improvement  of  the  growth 
of  the  crop.  Each  fish  of  ordinary  size,  weighing 
about  a  pound,  is  computed  to  be  equal  in  rich- 
ness to  a  shovelful  of  barnyard  manure. 

The  chief  value  of  the  hardhead  in  Massachu- 
setts Bay  is  for  bait.  It  is  in  great  demand  among 
the  fishermen,  who  use  it  profusely,  not  only  by 
putting  pieces  of  it  on  their  hooks,  but  by  grinding 


70  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

it  up  fine  in  a  bait-mill  and  throwing  it  overboard 
by  handfuls,  to  attract  the  mackerel  near  their  ves- 
sels. The  marauding  bluefish  this  season  caused 
a  comparative  scarcity  of  hardheads  in  Massa- 
chusetts waters ;  and  later  in  our  cruise  we  met 
Swampscott  and  Cape  Ann  vessels  which  had 
gone  as  far  east  as  Mount  Desert  in  search  of 
hardheads  for  bait. 

Cutting  one  of  these  fishes  into  small  pieces 
with  an  old  butcher-knife,  which  was  always  lying 
about  on  deck  for  that  service,  I  baited  a  couple 
of  small  hooks  on  a  cunner-line,  and  dropped  them 
over  the  side  of  the  sloop,  more  for  the  sake  of 
having  something  in  my  hand  as  I  sat  on  the  rail 
looking  at  the  scenery,  than  with  much  expecta- 
tion of  catching  anything.  In  a  moment  I  had 
a  bite  and  pulled  up  ;  there  were  two  good-sized 
flounders,  one  on  each  hook. 

"  Pretty  well  for  a  beginning,"  said  I  to  myself, 
throwing  them  on  the  deck  with  a  splash  that 
evidently  startled  a  little  the  sleepers  below,  for 
I  heard  some  one  of  them  muttering  and  rolling 
about  in  his  berth.  The  flounders  had  not  got 
the  bait  off,  and  as  soon  as  I  had  disengaged  them 
I  dropped  the  line  again.  It  was  still  sinking 
when  I  felt  a  bite,  —  a  stout,  vigorous  tug,  very 
unlike  the  feeble  pull  of  the  flounder.  Hauling 
in,  I  found  the  largest  pollack  we  had  yet  caught, 
—  a  handsome,  lively  fellow,  weighing  nearly  four 
pounds.  I  threw  him  on  deck  with  considerable 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         71 

emphasis,  and  again  dropping  the  line,  which  had 
yet  one  bait  left  upon  it,  drew  up  almost  instantly 
another  pollack  of  about  the  same  size. 

The  Professor  just  then  stuck  his  head  out  of 
the  companion-way,  and  on  seeing  my  captures, 
rigged  a  line  with  his  usual  quickness,  and  for  a 
few  minutes  we  pulled  up  pollack  as  fast  as  one 
could  wish.  But  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour  the 
sport  was  all  over.  For  ten  minutes  we  did  not 
get  a  bite. 

"  This  is  the  way  with  sea-fishing,"  said  the 
Professor.  "  A  small  school  of  fish  comes  along 
and  bites  to  your  heart's  content  for  a  while. 
Suddenly  they  cease  to  bite,  and  you  may  fish  for 
an  hour  and  catch  nothing." 

"  What  can  be  the  cause  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Either  that  we  have  caught  the  whole  school, 
or  so  many  of  them  that  the  survivors  have  be- 
come cautious  and  have  gone  off,  or  some  larger 
fish  of  another  species  has  chased  them  away ;  or, 
perhaps,  mere  whim.  Who  can  tell?" 

The  Skipper  and  the  Pilot  came  on  board  at 
seven  and  got  breakfast  for  us.  At  nine  we  took 
the  dory,  the  Professor  rowing,  and  went  to  Dread 
Ledge,  a  famous  and  formidable  reef  running  out 
into  the  sea  about  a  mile  from  where  our  vessel 
lay.  The  surf  was  foaming  splendidly  in  the  bril- 
liant sunshine,  over  the  black,  savage  rocks.  We 
anchored  the  dory  as  close  to  them  as  we  could 
with  safety.  Southwest  of  us,  two  or  three  miles 


72  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

distant,  was  Nahant,  with  Egg  Rock  rising  be- 
tween. Northwest  was  the  picturesque  rocky 
promontory  on  which  stands  the  Ocean  House, 
embowered  in  trees.  East  and  south  stretched 
the  sea,  dotted  with  the  sails  of  the  commerce  of 
Boston. 

The  Professor  baited  two  lines,  and,  standing  up 
in  the  middle  of  the  boat,  was  soon  hauling  in  on 
each  side  of  the  dory,  cod  and  pollack  weighing 
three  or  four  pounds  apiece,  much  to  the  an- 
noyance of  the  Assyrian,  who  was  comfortably 
stretched  out  in  the  "arm-chair,"  —  as  the  fish- 
ermen call  the  stern  of  the  dory,  —  with  a  cigar  in 
his  mouth,  and  a  half-baited  line  in  his  hand. 
The  Professor,  as  he  quickly  bent  first  to  one  side, 
then  to  the  other,  to  pull  up  and  throw  back  his 
lines,  caused  the  little  flat-bottomed  skiff  to  oscil- 
late in  a  way  sufficiently  alarming  to  one  not  used 
to  it.  The  person  who  sits  in  the  narrow  stern 
always  feels  this  oscillation  most  strongly.  The 
Assyrian  —  who  had  scarcely  ever  before  been  in 
a  dory  —  was  evidently  a  little  frightened.  At 
length  he  said, — 

"  I  wish  you  would  sit  down,  Professor,  and 
keep  still.  You  make  the  boat  rock  so  with  your 
confounded  jumping  about,  that  I  haven't  been 
able  to  bait  my  line." 

"  Sit  down  !  certainly,  certainly,"  responded  the 
Professor.  "  I  did  not  observe  —  by  George  ! 
what  a  bite !  I've  got  him."  And  up  he  jumped, 


•...., 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         73 

with  a  sudden  spring  that  sent  the  gunwale  of  the 
dory  under  water,  and  made  the  startled  Assyrian 
drop  his  line  and  clutch  nervously  the  sides  of  the 
boat,  uttering  at  the  same  time  a  slightly  profane 
ejaculation. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  said  the  Professor,  re- 
seating himself,  and  taking'  from  his  hook  a  very 
lively  pollack,  weighing  five  pounds,  which  he 
threw  at  the  Assyrian's  feet,  "  I  forgot  that  you 
wished  me  to  sit  down.  Isn't  that  a  fine  fel- 
low?" 

The  dory  had  imbibed  a  good  deal  of  water  in 
the  dippings  to  which  the  Professor's  activity  had 
subjected  it,  and  the  lively  pollack  was  slapping 
his  tail  on  the  bottom  with  rapid  energy  that  spat- 
tered a  shower  of  dirty  spray  in  the  face  of  the 
gentleman  from  Nineveh.  That  personage,  how- 
ever, said  nothing,  but  put  his  heel  on  the  tail  of 
the  fish  with  an  emphasis  that  indicated  considera- 
ble exasperation.  He  threw  over  his  now  baited 
hook,  and  in  half  a  minute  had  pulled  up  a  fine 
cod.  Another  and  another  followed,  and  in  the 
excitement  of  the  sport,  the  splashing  of  dirty 
water  and  the  rocking  of  the  boat  were  alike  un- 
heeded. He  was  soon  almost  as  actively  employed 
as  the  Professor  himself,  though  he  fished  with  a 
little  less  vigorous  action. 

We  did  not  continue  long  the  sport,  for  its 
abundance  soon  satiated  us.  We  had  more  fish  in 
our  boat  than  we  could  possibly  use,  and  had  no 

4 


74  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

desire  to  be  guilty  of  wanton  destruction.  We 
stopped  in  time  to  get  back  to  the  sloop  at  noon, 
bringing  with  us  forty-two  pollack,  twenty-seven 
cod,  and  a  dozen  cunners  that  weighed  about  a 
pound  apiece. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         75 


CHAPTER    X. 

DREDGING   OFF  NAHANT.  —  MISADVENTURES.  —  A 
NIGHT  ROW. 

WE  found  the  carpenters  in  possession  of  the 
vessel,  making  cupboards  and  putting  up  racks 
and  shelves  for  books,  charts,  clothes,  and  other 
articles.  As  their  presence  made  the  vessel  in- 
conveniently crowded,  after  dinner  the  Professor, 
the  Assyrian,  and  the  Artist  got  into  a  "  whale- 
boat,"  belonging  to  Mr.  Tufts,  and  made  sail  for 
Nahant  Point,  intending  to  dredge  in  that  neigh- 
borhood. The  fishermen  make  great  use  of  these 
boats,  which  are  called  whale-boats  because  in 
some  particulars  of  their  build  they  resemble  the 
boats  used  in  the  whale  fishery.  They  are  really 
a  convenient  species  of  sail-boat,  and  generally  of 
about  five  tons  burden. 

My  companions  promised  to  get  back  in  time 
for  tea,  but  at  tea-time  there  was  no  trace  of  them 
visible.  About  sunset  I  saw  them  through  the 
telescope  far  away  beyond  Nahant,  six  or  seven 
miles  distant.  The  breeze  had  died  away  where 
the  sloop  was  lying,  though  there  seemed  to  be 
some  wind  in  the  offing.  Just  before  dark  the 
whale-boat  disappeared  behind  Nahant,  and  I  con- 
cluded that  my  friends,  finding  it  impossible  to 


76  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

regain  the  sloop,  had  concluded  to  put  into  Na- 
hant  and  pass  the  night  there  at  the  hotel.  The 
Skipper  and  the  Pilot  coincided  in  this  view,  and 
at  dark  went  ashore  to  spend  the  night  with  their 
families,  leaving  me  in  sole  charge  of  the  vessel. 

The  night  was  exceedingly  dark,  and  the  air 
chilly.  I  confined  myself,  therefore,  to  the  cabin, 
occupied  in  writing  till  nearly  midnight,  when,  as 
I  was  about  to  turn  in,  I  heard  a  distant,  faint 

c-rv>  — 

"  Helen,  ahoy  !  " 

I  stepped  on  deck,  and  held  the  light  in  the 
companion-way,  so  that  the  wind  could  not  reach 
it,  while  yet  its  glare  could  be  seen  from  without. 
The  hail  was  repeated,  and  I  recognized  the  strong 
voice  of  the  Assyrian.  But  the  sound  came  not 
from  the  direction  of  Nahant,  but  from  the  oppo- 
site quarter,  toward  the  shore  of  the  mainland. 
Without  stopping  to  speculate  on  this  phenome- 
non, I  ran  below,  grasped  a  bunch  of  Roman  can- 
dles, and  lighting  one  at  the  lamp  held  it  aloft,  so 
that  its  fiery  shower  threw  a  momentary  radiance 
over  the  sloop.  I  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  sail- 
boat slowly  approaching,  and  a  shout  from  her 
crew  announced  their  satisfaction  at  my  signal.  I 
lighted  two  more  candles  in  succession,  guided  by 
which  they  got  safely  on  board. 

They  were  tired,  wet,  cold,  and  hungry.  For- 
tunately the  Pilot,  before  going  on  shore,  had 
cooked  a  plentiful  supper  in  the  expectation  that 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         77 

they  might  possibly  return  before  nightfall.  Dry 
clothes  proved  an  adequate  remedy  for  both  cold 
and  wet.  The  Assyrian  crawled  into  the  fore- 
peak,  and  presently  emerging  with  two  bottles  of 
ale,  proceeded  to  make  himself  comfortable  in  his 
own  way.  The  Professor,  having  arranged  his 
Coast-Survey  volume  for  a  pillow,  turned  into  his 
berth,  lighted  his  cigar,  and  favored  me  with  an 
account  of  their  adventures  in  the  sail-boat. 

First,  they  had  dredged  laboriously  and  success- 
fully for  three  or  four  hours  in  the  deep  waters 
beyond  Nahant,  which  abound  in  curious  speci- 
mens of  marine  life. 

Dredging,  by  the  way,  I  believe  I  have  not  yet 
described.  The  implement  used  by  naturalists  is 
a  square  iron  frame,  like  a  shallow  box  without  a 
bottom.  It  is  generally  about  two  feet  square, 
the  sides  of  the  frame  being  four  inches  high.  It 
has  a  handle  like  that  of  a  pail  or  bucket,  with 
a  ring  to  which  a  rope  is  tied.  Below  the  frame, 
fastened  to  a  row  of  holes  near  its  lower  edge, 
hangs  a  bag  of  network  with  tolerably  small 
meshes.  A  stout  rope,  two  or  three  hundred 
feet  long,  is  used.  The  dredge  is  dropped  over- 
board while  the  boat  is  in  motion,  and  is  dragged 
along  until  the  net-bag  is  supposed  to  be  full  of 
mud,  gravel,  stones,  shell,  and  whatever  else  may 
be  upon  the  bottom.  It  is  then  hauled  up  to 
the  surface  and  swashed  about  for  a  few  min- 
utes to  get  rid,  as  much  as  possible,  of  the  mud, 


78  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

which  generally  constitutes  the  chief  part  of 
its  contents.  Lifted  upon  deck,  buckets,  pans, 
basins,  and  other  vessels  are  put  in  requisition, 
filled  with  sea-water.  Handful  by  handful  the 
mud  is  then  taken  from  the  net  and  thoroughly 
examined.  Stones  and  other  rubbish  are  flung 
overboard,  but  every  living  creature  is  carefully 
handled  and  washed  and  put  into  a  bucket,  pan, 
tumbler,  or  whatever  vessel  may  be  most  conve- 
nient, taking  care  always  to  immerse  the  animal 
as  soon  as  possible  into  cool,  freshly  dipped  sea- 
water. 

On  board  the  sail-boat  they  had  but  a  single 
bucket.  Their  dredging,  as  I  said,  had  been  suc- 
cessful, and  at  the  end  of  three  or  four  hours  the 
bucket  was  nearly  full  of  fine  specimens.  What 
they  were  the  world  will  never  know,  for  just  as 
they  had  hauled  up  the  last  dredgeful  an  unlucky 
flaw  struck  the  vessel.  There  was  a  commotion 
on  board,  a  rushing  or  rather  a  rolling  to  and  fro 
to  get  out  of  the  way  of  the  boom.  The  Profes- 
sor's hat  was  knocked  off  his  head  by  the  boom, 
and  went  overboard,  nearly  taking  the  head  with 
it.  The  Assyrian's  long  legs  swung  round  and 
struck  the  bucket  containing  the  specimens,  the 
greater  part  of  which,  consequently,  a  minute 
afterward,  were  rapidly  descending  to  their  na- 
tive depths. 

Disheartened  by  this  mishap,  they  gave  up 
dredging  and  made  sail  for  a  fishing-bank  some 


THE    COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         79 

miles  farther  out  to  sea.  They  caught  nothing 
there  worth  mentioning ;  and  when  it  grew  dark, 
an  1  they  essayed  to  return,  the  wind  had  died 
away.  The  vessel  had  no  oars,  nor  anything  that 
could  be  used  as  a  paddle,  except  a  broken  pitch- 
fork that  had  somehow  found  its  way  on  board. 
With  the  aid  of  this,  they  slowly  moved  onward, 
and,  as  they  went,  picked  up  a  tolerably  good 
straw  hat  floating  by,  which  had  doubtless  fallen 
from  some  vessel.  It  fitted  the  Professor's  head 
as  well  as  the  one  he  had  lost. 

About  9  o'clock  a  light  breeze  sprung  up,  and 
enabled  them  to  make  their  way  into  Swampscott 
Bay.  It  was  so  dark,  however,  that  they  could 
not  distinguish  the  sloop,  and  they  did  not  ascer- 
tain their  position  till  they  found  themselves  close 
to  the  shore.  Tacking  about,  they  stood  out  again, 
till  they  discerned  a  faint  glimmer  of  a  light,  which 
proved  to  come  from  my  lamp  in  the  cabin.  They 
hailed  it  gladly,  for  the  shore  was  too  rough  to 
permit  a  landing  in  the  dark,  and  they  were  al- 
ready suffering  from  cold  and  hunger. 


A  SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 


CHAPTER    XI. 

SHROWDEN'S  BANK.  — A  SEA-WOLF.  — A  SEA-RAVEN.— 
A  HEMDURGAN.  —  HOPE  OF  HALIBUT. 

SATURDAY  morning,  July  10,  the  weather  was 
dull  and  cloudy,  and  my  companions,  exhausted 
by  the  fatigues  of  the  previous  evening,  were  in 
no  hurry  to  get  up.  At  seven,  the  seamen  came 
on  board  and  got  ready  our  breakfast,  consisting 
mainly  of  the  codfish  we  had  captured  the  day 
before.  The  old  Pilot  selected  three  of  these  fish 
to  cook,  throwing  the  rest  overboard.  I  noticed 
that  he  selected  them  with  care,  and  without  any 
reference  to  size.  I  asked  him  why  he  picked  out 
those  three  in  particular.  He  replied  that  they 
were  the  best,  —  much  the  best  of  the  lot.  He 
could  not  tell  why,  exactly.  He  judged  by  the 
look,  —  by  the  shape.  Some  cod  were  logy,  heavy, 
dull ;  others  were  lively,  sprightly.  These  last 
were  best  for  food,  though  all  cod  were  good  eat- 
ing. His  explanation  reminded  me  of  the  New 
England  proverb :  "  All  deacons  are  good,  but 
there  's  odds  in  deacons." 

At  8  o'clock  we  made  sail  for  Shrowden's  Bank, 
a  noted  fishing-place  nine  miles  distant.  We  took 
our  last  look  at  Swampscott,  whose  name,  by  the 
by,  is  Indian,  though  apparently  compounded  of 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         81 

two  familiar  English  words.  It  was  once  a  favorite 
resort  of  the  Indians,  and  was  the  site  of  one  of 
their  villages.  The  tribe  by  whom  it  was  inhab- 
ited were  called  Abergonians,  and  at  the  time  of 
the  settlement  of  the  colony  they  were  governed 
by  a  "  squaw  sachem."  From  1634  to  1641 
Swampscott  was  occupied  as  a  farm  by  Sir  John 
Humphrey,  one  of  the  original  patentees  of  Mas- 
sachusetts. For  more  than  two  centuries  it  was  a 
part  of  Lynn.  I  remember  it  ten  or  twelve  years 
ago  as  a  small,  dirty  fishing- village,  romantically 
situated,  with  a  succession  of  picturesque  coves, 
beaches,  and  rocky  points.  The  summer  sojourn- 
ers  at  Nahant  were  fond  of  visiting  it  as  a  droll, 
queer  place,  very  like  the  Scotch  fishing- village 
described  in  The  Antiquary.  Now,  it  is  a  flour- 
ishing, populous  town,  —  clean  and  neat,  its  houses 
resplendent  with  white  paint,  and  its  beaches  lined 
with  the  most  elegant  sea-side  mansions  in  the 
State. 

We  anchored  on  Shrowden's  Bank,  and  began 
fishing  with  cod-lines,  with  a  pound  of  lead  for 
sinker.  We  baited  with  hardheads,  and  caught  in 
a  few  minutes  twenty  or  thirty  codfish,  averaging 
about  three  pounds  weight. 

The  Pilot  and  the  Skipper  expected  here  to 
catch  halibut,  which  they  evidently  regarded  as 
the  greatest  of  prizes.  At  length  I  hooked  some- 
thing of  greater  size  and  vigor  than  anything  we 
had  yet  taken.  Observing  the  force  with  which 

4*  F 


82  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

it  resisted  capture,  the  seamen  watched  with  eager- 
ness its  arrival  at  the  surface,  in  the  Jiope  that  it 
might  be  a  halibut. 

It  proved  to  be  a  catfish,  or  wolf-fish,  or  sea- 
wolf,  as  it  is  sometimes  called.  The  Scotch  fish- 
ermen term  it  sea-cat,  and  in  the  Orkneys  it  is 
known  as  the  swine-fish,  from  a  swinish  move- 
ment of  its  nostrils.  It  was  a  hideous-looking, 
black,  and  slimy  monster,  thirty-two  inches  long 
by  sixteen  wide,  weighing  ten  pounds.  The  head 
was  large,  flat  on  the  top,  and  blunt  at  the  snout ; 
the  jaws  filled  with  long,  thick-pointed  teeth,  with 
which  the  creature  snapped  ferociously  whenever 
we  touched  him.  These  jaws  have  great  strength, 
and  our  fishermen  handled  their  owner  very  cau- 
tiously. They  shook  their  heads  with  marked  dis- 
gust at  a  proposal  to  cook  the  animal  for  dinner ; 
yet  Dr.  Storer  says  the  catfish  is  excellent  food. 
He  has  had  it  upon  his  own  table,  and  found  it, 
when  boiled,  very  delicate  and  palatable.  Before 
cooking,  the  tough  skin  should  be  stripped  off. 
The  flesh,  when  smoked,  is  said  to  have  the  flavor 
of  salmon.  It  is  caught  as  far  south  as  Rockaway 
Beach  on  Long  Island,  and  abounds  in  high  north- 
ern latitudes,  where  it  attains  the  length  of  six  or 
eight  feet.  Along  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Nova 
Scotia  it  is  caught  at  all  seasons,  and  it  abounds  at 
the  entrance  to  the  Bay  of  Fundy.  Its  food  con- 
sists chiefly  of  shell-fish,  which  are  easily  crushed 
by  its  powerful  jaws  and  teeth.  It  swims  rapidly, 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND,         83 

with  a  lateral,  undulating  motion,  and  spawns  in 
May  and  June  among  the  reefs  and  rocks  which 
form  its  favorite  lurking-places. 

Half  an  hour  afterward  I  hooked  another  cat- 
fish, of  such  size  that  when  I  attempted  to  lift  him 
over  the  vessel's  side  the  stout  cod-line  broke  and 
he  escaped. 

The  Assyrian,  seated  comfortably  at  the  stern 
of  the  sloop,  with  his  invariable  cigar  in  his  mouth, 
was  lazily  pulling  up  the  occasional  cod  or  haddock 
that  were  so  accommodating  as  to  fix  themselves 
on  his  hook,  when  suddenly  he  started  to  his  feet 
exclaiming,  "  I  've  got  a  halibut,  now,  I  think." 

We  all  gathered  round  him  as,  with  surprising 
animation,  he  pulled  in  his  line,  of  which  he  had 
out  a  great  quantity,  the  tide  having  carried  it 
away  from  the  vessel.  A  brief  observation  of  the 
process  of  hauling  in  satisfied  the  old  Pilot.  He 
stepped  back  to  his  own  line,  saying,  "  You  've 
got  no  halibut  there." 

It  was  evidently,  however,  a  large  fish  of  some 
sort,  and  in  time  arrived  at  the  surface.  On  catch- 
ing sight  of  it  the  Assyrian  paused,  as  if  paralyzed 
with  astonishment. 

"  What  in  Tophet  is  this  ?  "  he  muttered. 

"  Lift  it  up,"  said  the  Artist,  "  and  let  us  look 
at  it." 

The  Assyrian  reluctantly  complied.  It  was  a 
frightful,  spinous,  blood-red  creature,  about  two 
feet  long. 


84  A  SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

"  A  sea-raven,"  said  the  Professor. 

The  old  Pilot  laughed.  "You  may  call  it  a 
sea-raven,  but  it 's  a  sculpin,  —  a  deep-water  scul- 
pin." 

"  So  it  is,"  rejoined  the  Professor ;  "  but  there 
are  many  kinds  of  sculpin,  and  the  books  call  this 
one  the  sea-raven." 

The  Professor  then  took  the  dory  and  rowed 
away  from  the  sloop  about  one  eighth  of  a  mile, 
where  he  fished  for  half  an  hour,  apparently  with- 
out much  success.  On  coming  alongside  he  held 
up  to  our  inspection  a  beautiful  rose-colored  fish 
about  eight  inches  in  length. 

"What  do  you  call  that?"  he  inquired  of  the 
Pilot. 

"  I  call  that  a  humdruggan." 

"  A  hemdurgan  ?  "  said  the  Professor,  repeating 
the  word  as  Dr.  Storer  spells  it. 

"  No,  a  humdruggan,"  persisted  the  old  fisher- 
man ;  "  that 's  what  I  have  always  heard  it  called, 
—  a  hum-drug-gan." 

It  was  a  Norway  haddock.  The  fishermen  call 
it  "  rose-fish,"  "  red  sea-perch,"  and  "  snapper." 
It  is  a  rare  fish  on  our  coast,  and  seldom  eaten 
when  taken ;  though  on  the  coast  of  Norway, 
where  it  is  caught  plentifully,  it  is  a  favorite  arti- 
cle of  food,  being  considered  a  great  delicacy,  and 
eaten  either  cooked  or  dried.  It  is  common  in  the 
seas  around  Newfoundland,  and  in  the  deep  bays 
on  the  southern  coast  of  Greenland  it  is  caught  in 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         85 

great  numbers,  in  the  way  that  the  Professor 
caught  it,  —  on  baited  hooks  attached  to  long  lines. 
It  lias  spines  on  the  head,  which  the  Greenlanders 
formerly  used  for  needles.  The  greatest  length  of 
the  Norway  haddock  is  two  feet.  It  is  caught, 
though  rarely,  I  believe,  as  far  south  as  New  York. 

The  Pilot  and  the  Skipper  both  expressed  a  good 
deal  of  dread  of  this  handsome  and  apparently 
harmless  fish.  They  considered  the  spine  poison- 
ous, and  the  Skipper  related  several  instances  in 
which  he  had  known  persons  to  be  dangerously 
wounded  by  handling  it.  The  Professor  pooh- 
poohed  at  these  stories,  though  it  was  possible,  he 
said,  that  a  wound  made  by  the  spines  of  the  fish 
might  become  badly  inflamed,  as  was  often  the 
case  with  wounds  made  by  the  claws  of  a  cat  or 
the  teeth  of  a  rat. 

The  Artist,  who  was  fishing  from  the  side  of  the 
vessel,  now  called  out  that  he  had  got  a  halibut. 
The  old  Pilot  took  hold  of  his  line,  and  after  pull- 
ing for  a  moment  his  countenance  lightened  up 
and  he  exclaimed  exultingly :  "  A  halibut,  and  a 
big  one  too !  Now,  gentlemen,  you  '11  see  some 
sport.  Now  you  '11  see  what  fishing  is.  Let  me 
manage  him ! " 

Rapidly,  but  continuously,  he  pulled  on  the  line 
for  a  few  moments,  holding  it  so  that  a  sudden 
rush  of  the  huge  fish  would  not  meet  with  suffi- 
cient resistance  to  break  the  cord.  We  held  our 
breath,  and  gathered  round  to  watch  the  struggle 


86  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

which  was  to  ensue  when  the  halibut  put  forth 
his  strength.  But  no  struggle  came.  The  Pilot 
pulled  and  pulled  with  greater  difficulty,  till  it  was 
evident  that  the  line  would  bear  no  more  strain. 
He  then  paused,  and  fingered  it  a  little,  gave  a  jerk 
or  two,  dropped  it  suddenly  as  if  it  burned  his  fin- 
gers, uttered  a  low,  prolonged  whistle,  and  walked 
to  his  own  line,  which  he  began  to  pull  in  slowly 
with  a  chapfallen  expression  of  countenance. 

*'  What's  the  matter?"  inquired  the  Artist. 
"  Why  don't  you  pull  up  the  halibut  ?  " 

"  Halibut  be  hanged  !  "  responded  the  old  man  ; 
"  your  line  is  foul  of  a  cable  which  somebody  has 
lost  here." 

The  Artist  pulled  stoutly  and  the  line  broke, 
coming  up  minus  the  hooks.  He  protested,  how- 
ever, that  he  had,  at  first,  something  living  on  the 
line,  which  had  probably  got  away  in  consequence 
of  coming  in  contact  with  the  sunken  cable. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         87 


CHAPTER    XII. 

TINKER'S  ISLAND.  —  THE  TAUTOG.  —  MARBLEHEAD.  — 
SKIPPER  IRESON'S  RIDE. 

ALL  hope  of  halibut  failing  us,  and  satiated 
with  catching  cod  and  haddock,  we  hoisted  the 
anchor  and  made  sail  for  Tinker's  Island,  near 
Marblehead.  We  anchored  in  a  narrow  channel 
between  the  island  and  the  mainland.  While  the 
seamen  were  getting  dinner  we  took  the  dory  and 
went  first  to  the  island  to  gather  crabs  for  bait,  as 
we  intended  to  fish  for  tautog.  A  large  Boston 
yacht  was  at  anchor  not  far  from  us,  and  a  party 
of  gentlemen  from  her  were  already  on  the  island 
fishing  for  tautog  with  rods.  The  island  is  a  mass 
of  rocks,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  length,  uninhab- 
ited, and  covered  with  a  thin  growth  of  grass  and 
bushes. 

The  Professor  being  expert  at  crab-catching,  we 
soon  had  bait  in  plenty.  Selecting  a  place  at  the 
north  end  of  the  island,  where  an  eddy  whirled 
and  seethed  around  a  huge  isolated  rock,  we  an- 
chored and  began  to  fish.  Gunners  of  a  large  size 
soon  gathered  around  our  boat  in  such  multitude 
that  we  caught  them  nearly  as  fast  as  we  could 
bait.  We  threw  back  into  the  sea  all  but  the 
largest,  which  would  weigh  somewhat  more  than 


88  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

a  pound  apiece.  Of  tautog  we  caught  only  seven, 
the  largest  of  which  weighed  three  pounds,  and 
was  sixteen  inches  in  length. 

The  tautog,  or  blackfish,  as  it  is  commonly  called 
in  New  York,  —  tautog  in  the  Mohegan  language 
meaning  black,  —  naturally  ranges  only  from  the 
Capes  of  the  Delaware  to  Cape  Cod.  But  twenty 
or  thirty  years  ago  some  gentlemen  of  Boston 
caused  a  number  to  be  brought  in  well-boats 
around  Cape  Cod  and  set  free  in  Massachusetts 
Bay.  They  have  since  multiplied  rapidly,  and 
have  extended  northwest  as  far  as  the  coast  of 
New  Brunswick.  Mr.  Perley  says  that  in  1851 
many  of  them  were  exhibited  for  sale  in  the  fish- 
market  of  St.  John,  the  largest  of  which  weighed 
eight  pounds.  The  largest  specimen  of  which 
Dr.  Storer  had  any  knowledge,  twenty  years  ago, 
weighed  sixteen  pounds.  They  are  now  caught 
plentifully  at  Nahant,  at  Plymouth,  and  at  Marsh- 
field, —  so  plentifully,  indeed,  at  Marshfield,  that 
they  are  used  there  for  lobster  bait,  and  are  little 
esteemed  for  food,  probably  because  they  are  im- 
properly cooked.  Frank  Forester,  in  the  earlier 
editions  of  his  "  Fish  and  Fishing  in  North  Amer- 
ica," says  that  the  savoriness  of  the  tautog  depends 
mainly  on  the  cook.  But  in  the  revised  edition, 
he  says,  "  He  is  better  in  the  pan  than  on  the 
hook,  and  better  on  the  table  than  in  the  pan." 

After  dinner  we  hoisted  sail  for  Marblehead, 
with  a  stiff  breeze  from  the  northeast,  which  swept 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.        89 

us  with  a  rush  into  the  harbor  of  that  famous  fish- 
ing town.  We  came  to  anchor  pretty  close  to  the 
wharves,  with  a  huge  cliff  rising  abruptly  from  the 
water  about  a  hundred  yards  ahead  of  us. 

The  harbor,  which  is  separated  from  the  ocean 
by  a  narrow,  rocky  peninsula,  is  a  mile  and  a  half 
long  and  half  a  mile  wide.  It  is  easy  of  access, 
with  depth  enough  for  the  largest  vessels,  and  is 
perfectly  safe,  except  in  a  northeast  storm,  when 
the  waves  roll  in  with  such  force  that,  said  the  old 
Pilot,  "  I  have  seen  twenty  vessels  ashore  at  once 
on  yonder  beach." 

He  was  a  native  of  Marblehead,  and  had  sailed 
from  its  port  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Nearly 
everybody  in  the  town  knew  him,  though  he  had 
lived  for  many  years  past  in  Swampscott.  Soon 
after  we  anchored  we  were  surrounded  by  a  swarm 
of  boat§  filled  with  enterprising  youngsters,  who, 
in  accordance  with  the  traditional  habit  of  the 
youth  of  the  place,  had  come  off  to  chat  with 
"  Uncle  Widger,"  and  to  "  haze  "  the  strangers. 

They  paid  special  attention  to  my  gold  specta- 
cles, and  when  the  Professor  and  the  Artist,  with 
their  eyes  arrayed  in  the  same  manner,  appeared 
on  deck,  there  was  a  general  shout  of  amazement 
and  delight.  The  Assyrian,  hearing  the  uproar, 
and  learning  its  occasion,  borrowed  a  spare  pair 
of  spectacles  which  the  Professor  had  provided  in 
case  of  accident,  and  putting  them  on,  though  his 
eyes  are  like  those  of  a  hawk,  came  out  of  the 


90  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

cabin  and  gravely  contemplated  our  noisy  visitors, 
whose  exultation  at  this  fourth  apparition  was 
loudly  manifested. 

It  was  evident  that  a  vessel  navigated  by  men 
in  red  shirts  and  wearing  gold  spectacles  had  not 
been  seen  in  Marblehead  harbor  within  the  mem- 
ory of  the  present  generation. 

After  a  while  these  ingenuous  youth  departed, 
and  betook  themselves  to  skimming  in  their  dories 
to  and  fro  over  the  surface  of  the  harbor  for  amuse- 
ment. 

"  Make  'em  give  you  a  pair  of  gold  barnacles, 
Uncle  Widger,"  was  their  parting  salutation,  "  and 
then  the  whole  crew  will  be  in  uniform." 

We  witnessed  a  glorious  sunset,  which  set  off  to 
great  advantage  the  picturesque  old  town  with  its 
quaint  houses  and  ragged  heights.  As  I  sat  on 
deck  gazing  at  it,  I  repeated  the  lines  which  Whit- 
tier's  ballad  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  have  made 
familiar  to  the  public :  — 

"  Skipper  Flood  Ireson,  for  his  hard  heart, 
Was  tarred  and  feathered,  and  carried  in  a  cart." 

"  I  was  in  that  scrape,"  said  the  old  Pilot,  who 
overheard  me. 

"The  deuce  you  were!  Why,  it  happened 
long  before  you  were  born,"  said  I,  with  an  indis- 
tinct impression  that  the  "  scrape,"  as  he  called  it, 
was  a  pre-Revolutionary  affair. 

"  It  happened  fifty  years  ago,  when  I  was  eigh- 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         91 

teen  years  old,  and  I  was  one  of  them  that  dragged 
Ireson  in  his  dory  over  to  Salem  after  he  was  tarred 
and  feathered." 

The  old  man  proceeded  to  relate  what  he  re- 
membered of  the  transaction.  Skipper  Ireson,  it 
will  be  recollected,  basely  passed  a  wreck  on  which 
were  four  or  five  men  appealing  to  him  to  rescue 
them.  He  left  them  to  perish,  his  townspeople 
of  Marblehead  thought,  because  he  begrudged  the 
cost  of  keeping  them  on  board  his  vessel  for  even 
the  short  passage  from  Cape  Cod  to  Cape  Ann. 
The  circumstances  becoming  known,  the  indig- 
nant Marbleheaders  tarred  and  feathered  him,  put 
him  in  the  boat  of  his  own  vessel,  and  dragged 
him  as  far  as  the  entrance  of  Salem.  There  they 
were  stopped  by  the  Selectmen  of  that  town,  who 
informed  them  that  an  enraged  mob  was  waiting 
for  them  with  the  intention  of  hanging  Ireson. 
According  to  our  Pilot,  upon  hearing  this  the 
Marblehead  mob  turned  back  and  took  their  vic- 
tim home,  because  they  had  been  strictly  charged  by 
the  Selectmen  of  Marblehead  to  take  care  that  he 
sustained  no  serious  injury,  —  a  circumstance  which 
indicates  a  strange  mixture  of  order  and  lawless- 
ness in  the  proceeding. 

The  traditional  story  used  by  Whittier,  that 
Ireson  repeated,  as  he  was  carried  along,  the 


'  I,  Flood  Ireson,  for  my  hard  heart, 
Am  tarred,  and  feathered,  and  carried  in  a  cart"  — 


92  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

the  Pilot  pronounced  untrue.     The  verses  were 
made  afterward  by  the  boys. 

Ireson  endured  his  punishment  with  fortitude, 
sitting  like  a  statue  and  uttering  not  a  word,  ex- 
cept once ;  the  weather  being  extremely  cold,  he 
asked  for  some  grog  to  warm  him,  when  about 
half-way  on  the  road  to  Salem.  His  request  was 
granted,  and  he  made  the  rest  of  his  unpleasant 
expedition  in  silence.  He  lived  till  within  a  few 
years,  and  was  a  commander  of  ships  almost  to 
the  time  of  his  death,  the  merchants  favoring  him 
because  he  was  noted  for  successful  voyages. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         93 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE  GREAT  THUNDER-STORM.  —  FROM  MARBLEHEAD 
TO  GLOUCESTER.  — MOTHER  CAREY'S  CHICKENS.— 
A  SKIPPER  LOST. 

THE  morning  of  Sunday,  July  11,  in  the  pic- 
turesque harbor  of  Marblehead,  was  as  lovely  as 
sunshine  and  sea  and  scenery  could  make  it.  As 
the  day  advanced,  the  heat  became  oppressive. 
On  shore,  we  afterward  learned,  it  was  the  hot- 
test day  of  that  hottest  of  the  heated  terms  of 
the  year, — the  mercury  rising  in  some  instances 
above  100°. 

Toward  noon  we  got  into  the  dory,  and,  with 
the  Pilot  for  oarsman,  rowed  across  the  harbor  to 
the  narrow  peninsula  which  separates  it  from  the 
ocean.  Leaving  him  in  charge  of  the  boat,  we 
walked  across  the  field  half  a  mile  or  so,  till  we 
found  ourselves  on  the  shore  of  our  yesterday's 
fishing-ground,  at  Tinker's  Island.  It  is  a  bold, 
rocky  coast,  indented  with  many  little  coves,  with 
tiny  sandy  or  gravelly  beaches.  Selecting  the 
prettiest  and  shadiest  of  these  recesses,  we  cooled 
off  with  a  long,  luxurious  bath.  Strolling  then  to 
a  headland,  crowned  by  a  group  of  stately  elms, 
we  sat  down  in  their  shade  on  the  grass,  lighted 
our  cigars,  and  refreshed  our  eyes  with  the  con- 


94  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

templation  of  a  scene  of  blended  land  and  water, 
promontory  and  inlet,  hill  and  meadow,  cultivation 
and  wildness,  that  has,  southward,  no  rival  nearer 
than  the  bay  of  Rio  Janeiro,  and  northward  is  not 
surpassed  in  natural  beauty  till  you  reach  Mount 
Desert. 

Certain  interior  sensations,  premonitory  symp- 
toms of  the  approach  of  the  dinner  hour,  at  length 
caused  us  to  turn  our  steps  toward  the  Helen. 
Crossing  the  Neck,  we  found  the  dory  where  we 
had  left  it  on  the  beach,  but  the  Pilot  had  disap- 
peared. We  hunted  for  him  up  and  down  the 
shore,  in  caves,  behind  rocks,  under  bushes,  — 
everywhere.  He  was  not  to  be  found.  He  had 
absolutely  vanished.  We  had  no  resource  but  to 
await  his  reappearance.  To  sit  or  stand  in  the 
fierce  sunshine,  which  poured  down  upon  the  boat, 
was  out  of  the  question.  Descrying  a  barn  at 
some  distance  we  went  to  it  for  shelter,  and  dis- 
covered our  missing  Palinurus  stretched  upon  a 
heap  of  hay  fast  asleep.  He,  too,  had  prudently 
retreated  from  the  fervor  of  the  sun,  and  yielded 
himself  to  his  usual  proclivity  to  sleep  when  there 
was  nothing  else  to  do.  Rousing  him,  we  rowed 
back  to  our  vessel,  and  after  dinner,  the  heat  hav- 
ing grown  still  more  oppressive,  we  turned  in  and 
went  to  sleep  ourselves. 

Our  slumbers  were  not  of  long  duration.  They 
were  cut  short  by  a  tremendous  peal  of  thunder. 
We  arose  and  went  on  deck. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         95 

"  The  sky  was  changed,  and  such  a  change  !  " 

When  we  went  below  not  a  cloud  marred  the 
serene  blueness  overhead,  not  a  breath  of  wind 
disturbed  the  fervid,  glowing  atmosphere,  or  miti- 
gated the  fierce  heat ;  —  now,  the  heavens  were 
shrouded  with  a  pall  whose  blackness  was  irra- 
diated only  by  flashes  of  lightning,  while  furious 
gusts  swept  madly  over  the  harbor,  lashing  the 
waters  into  short,  sharp  waves,  crested  with  foam. 
It  was  the  most  formidable  thunder-storm  ever 
known  in  the  annals  of  New  England.  It  raged, 
I  believe,  over  the  whole  of  Massachusetts.  In 
Cambridge  alone  the  lightning  struck  in  more 
than  forty  places,  though  that  city,  from  its  pecu- 
liar position,  is  usually  remarkably  exempt  from 
the  influence  of  thunder-storms. 

The  temperature  lowered  very  rapidly.  There 
was  a  gust  of  rain,  and  then  suddenly  we  were 
engulfed  in  a  dense  fog,  which,  however,  did  not 
rise  high  above  the  surface  of  the  water ;  for  I 
was  struck  by  the  strange  appearance  in  the  air 
of  the  topmasts  of  the  surrounding  vessels,  while 
their  hulls  were  entirely  hidden.  Gradually  the 
fog  turned  into  rain,  and  by  nightfall  the  weather 
was  so  cold  that  we  were  fain  to  go  to  bed  at  dark 
to  keep  ourselves  warm.  The  wind  was  north- 
east, and  blowing  pretty  hard,  and  I  noticed,  be- 
fore turning  in,  that  the  Skipper  and  the  Pilot 
were  busy  rigging  a  large  anchor,  which  we  had 
on  deck,  but  which  we  had  not  yet  had  occasion 


96  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

to  use.  They  predicted  that  the  wind  would 
increase  in  the  night,  and,  as  it  was  blowing  di- 
rectly into  the  harbor,  we  should  be  likely  to  need 
an  additional  anchor.  The  old  Pilot  said  that  he 
remembered  a  northeast  storm,  many  years  ago, 
in  which  every  vessel  in  the  harbor  was  driven 
ashore. 

The  prediction  of  the  seamen  was  verified. 
About  midnight  we  were  roused  by  an  outcry  on 
deck,  and,  turning  out,  found  that  the  wind  was 
blowing  almost  a  gale,  and  that  the  sloop,  in  spite 
of  her  additional  anchor,  was  drifting  under  the 
impulse  of  wind  and  waves  directly  upon  the  great 
black  rock  which  rose  from  the  water  a  hundred 
yards  southwest  of  us.  She  drifted  slovvjy,  and 
we  watched  her  progress  with  some  anxiety. 
Fortunately,  when  we  were  about  fifty  yards  from 
the  frowning  rock,  our  anchors  caught  in  the 
moorings  of  another  vessel  and  arrested  our  dan- 
gerous progress. 

The  next  morning,  Monday,  July  12,  was  so 
cold  and  damp  that  the  seamen  dragged  forth  a 
small  stove  from  the  forepeak,  and  made  a  fire  in 
the  cabin.  We  went  ashore  to  take  a  look  at  the 
town,  which  has  always  been  reputed  one  of  the 
queerest  places  in  New  England.  It  was  settled 
before  1645,  and  is  built  on  a  high,  rocky,  irregu- 
lar peninsula  about  four  miles  in  length  and  two  in 
breadth.  The  streets  are  narrow,  and  are  laid  out 
on  the  pattern  of  the  paths  in  a  modern  landscape 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.        97 

garden,  with  a  careful  avoidance  of  right  lines. 
We  saw  few  of  the  inhabitants,  and  most  of  those 
we  saw  were  small  boys,  who  had  a  weather- 
beaten  look,  and  sported  pea-jackets  and  top-boots. 
The  people  were  formerly  the  most  uncivilized  in 
New  England,  and  the  boys  so  rude  and  turbulent 
as  to  be  a  terror  to  strangers,  whom  they  were 
accustomed  to  stone,  or,  as  they  themselves  ex- 
pressed it,  to  "  rock,"  for  amusement.  But  of 
late  years  the  place  has  much  improved. 

After  dinner  we  made  sail  for  Gloucester.  The 
wind  having  abated,  our  progress  was  very.slow^ 
and  about  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  we  lay  to 
and  fished.  Half  a  dozen  rock-cod  were  hauled 
up  in  a  few  minutes,  and  the  Pilot,  having  nothing 
else  to  do,  began  to  prepare  them  for  the  frying- 
pan.  As  he  cleaned  them,  he  threw  overboard 
the  entrails,  which  floated  for  a  while  on  the 
surface. 

Almost  instantlv  a  flock  of  stormy  petrels,  or 
Mother  Carey's  chickens,  as  the  sailors  call  them, 
gathered  round  the  garbage.  A  moment  before 
but  one  of  these  birds  was  visible.  They  were 
very  bold,  coming  close  alongside  of  the  vessel, 
and  seizing  pieces  of  the  floating  prey  larger  than 
themselves,  with  which  they  would  strive  to  fly 
away.  Sometimes  two  of  them  would  take  hold 
at  the  same  time  of  the  same  piece,  and  tug  in 
opposite  directions.  The  Professor  seized  his  dip- 
net,  and  stationing  himself  at  the  side  of  the  vessel, 


98  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

directed  the  Pilot  to  throw  over  a  handful  of  gar- 
bage so  close  that  it  would  float  within  reach.  The 
birds  gathered  round,  and  the  Professor,  with  his 
usual  singularly  quick  adroitness,  captured  in  suc- 
cession half  a  dozen  of  them.  They  were  so 
greedy  and  so  bold,  that  he  might,  if  he  had 
pleased,  have  taken  the  whole  flock. 

In  taking  them  from  the  dip-net  and  throwing 
them  on  deck  near  the  companion-way,  they 
showed  remarkable  stupidity,  or  inability  to  walk 
on  anything  but  water.  They  dashed  about  under 
the  bench  which  surrounded  the  small  standing- 
place  for  the  helmsman,  in  front  of  the  cabin, 
knocking  their  heads  against  the  under  surface  of 
the  bench  as  blindly  as  a  bird  or  any  insect  will 
sometimes  knock  against  the  glass  of  a  half-opened 
window,  instead  of  flying  out  of  the  aperture.  In 
no  case  did  one  of  them  succeed  in  getting  clear 
of  the  deck  without  our  assistance.  When  liber- 
ated, I  noticed  that  they  all  flew  away  in  the  same 
direction  until  they  were  out  of  sight. 

The  last  one  that  we  caught  the  artist  took  into 
the  cabin  to  make  a  drawing  of  it.  It  was  very 
tame,  and  remained  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  with- 
out struggling,  loosely  held  in  the  hand  \mtil  its 
portrait  was  secured,  when  it  was  suffered  to  rejoin 
its  companions.  Like  all  those  we  captured,  it  had 
a  singularly  gentle  and  innocent  expression,  and 
its  resemblance  in  this  respect  to  a  young  chicken 
was  so  great  that  we  were  satisfied  of  the  appro- 


COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         99 

priateness  of  the  term  chicken  commonly  applied 
to  the  bird  by  sailors,  —  though  why  it  should  be 
called  Mother  Carey's  is  an  unsolved  and  unsolv- 
able  mystery. 

A  flock  of  these  birds  will  sometimes  follow  a 
vessel  for  months  together.  They  sleep  on  the 
water  at  night,  and  catch  up  with  the  ship  in  the 
morning,  guided  in  their  search  for  it  perhaps  by 
instinct,  perhaps  by  the  small  floating  substances, 
such  as  scraps  of  food,  which  their  keen  eyes  can 
detect  in  its  wake.  The  Professor  told  us  that  he 
had  frequently  caught  them  in  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
and  let  them  go  again  with  a  colored  thread  tied 
to  their  legs.  One  individual,  thus  marked,  fol- 
lowed the  ship  for  six  weeks,  and  was  seen  every 
clay.  It  has  been  a  question  much  discussed 
among  naturalists  where  and  how  this  bird  breeds. 
But  at  Grand  Manan  the  Professor  found  their 
nests  in  immense  numbers.  They  burrow,  like  the 
cliff  swallow,  in  cliffs  of  sand.  There  are  cliffs  of 
great  extent  at  Grand  Manan,  so  perforated  by 
them  as  to  resemble  gigantic  honeycombs,  around 
which  they  swarm  in  multitudes  so  prodigious  as 
almost  to  blacken  the  air. 

About  sunset  we  cast  anchor  in  Gloucester  har- 
bor. The  weather  was  thick,  and  the  wind  very 
light.  As  we  slowly  made  our  way  in,  the  Skip- 
per noticed  a  small  schooner,  a  fishing  jigger  from 
his  own  town  of  Swampscott,  which  was  also 
creeping  along  with  the  tide.  It  was  owned,  he 


100  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

told  us,  by  a  neighbor  of  his,  and  was  manned  by 
two  men,  one  of  whom  was  particularly  known  in 
Swampscott  by  the  nickname  of  "  Cousin,"  who, 
he  said,  was  a  very  merry  fellow,  and  would  amuse 
us  by  his  droll  remarks.  We  accordingly  stood 
toward  the  jigger,  and  when  near  enough  for  con- 
versation, hailed  it. 

"  Cousin"  was  at  the  helm,  and  in  anything  but 
a  jolly  mood  apparently.  In  answer  to  our  inquiry 
for  news,  he  replied  that  he  had  "  lost  his 
skipper." 

"  Lost  his  skipper  !  "  exclaimed  the  Assyrian, 
"  what  does  the  man  mean  ?  I  never  heard  be- 
fore of  losing  a  skipper :  the  fellow  must  be  jok- 
ing." 

But  I  observed  that  the  countenances  of  our 
Swampscott  fishermen  grew  grave  on  hearing 
"  Cousin's  "  unexpected  reply.  They  were  too 
familiar  with  the  dangers  of  their  perilous  vocation 
to  be  much  perplexed  to  comprehend  the  strange 
catastrophe  that  had  befallen  their  neighbor.  The 
old  Pilot  silently  relinquished  the  helm  to  the 
Professor,  and  he  and  the  Skipper  took  the  dory 
and  went  aboard  the  jigger.  They  returned  in 
a  few  minutes,  and  confirmed  "  Cousin's  "  state- 
ment. He  had  really  "  lost  his  skipper." 

The  two  men  had  been  sent  to  some  distant 
fishing-bank,  and  on  their  return,  while  yet  out  of 
sight  of  land,  had  been  overtaken  by  night.  They 
kept  watch,  one  at  a  time.  The  first  half  of  the 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       101 

night  was  "  Cousin's  "  watch.  At  midnight  he 
roused  his  companion,  who  took  the  helm,  while 
"Cousin"  turned  in  to  sleep.  In  the  morning 
when  he  awoke  the  skipper  was  missing,  —  gone, 
— vanished.  Not  a  trace  of  him  was  visible.  The 
little  schooner  was  easily  searched,  —  he  was  not 
on  board.  The  dory  still  towed  at  the  stern,  —  he 
had  not  gone  off  in  that.  The  inevitable  conclusion 
was,  that  he  had  somehow  fallen  overboard,  and 
been  drowned.  But  how,  when,  or  why,  were 
questions  that  would  have  baffled  forever  all  the 
coroners  of  the  Commonwealth.  After  looking  in 
all  manner  of  impossible  places  for  his  missing 
comrade,  "  Cousin,"  with  a  heavy  heart,  steered 
for  Cape  Ann,  the  nearest  land,  to  report  his  loss 
and  take  counsel  with  the  friends  and  neighbors 
whom  he  knew  he  should  meet  in  Gloucester 
harbor,  which  is  the  great  rendezvous  of  the 
Massachusetts  fishermen. 

Our  Pilot  and  Skipper,  who  knew  both  the 
men  intimately,  expressed  the  most  entire  confi- 
dence in  the  accuracy  of  "  Cousin's "  statement. 
His  companion  had  probably  fallen  overboard  in  a 
fit  or  by  a  careless  misstep  in  the  dark,  and,  like 
many  of  the  fishermen,  being  unable  to  swim,  had 
gone  down  unseen  and  unheard.  They  showed 
evident  concern  for  their  neighbor,  but  still  could 
not  repress  a  certain  degree  of  amusement  as  they 
thought  of  "  Cousin's  "  astounding  bewilderment 
on  getting  up  in  the  morning  and  finding  that  he 


102  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

had  lost  his  skipper.  They  had  been  so  much  in 
the  habit  of  laughing  at,  or  laughing  with  him,  that 
a  touch  of  the  ludicrous  could  not  but  mix  itself 
with  even  so  grave  and  shocking  an  event. 

On  our  way  up  to  the  harbor  we  had  dressed 
ourselves  in  shore-clothes,  and  immediately  on 
casting  anchor  we  went  ashore  and  made  our 
way  to  the  Gloucester  House,  where  we  ordered 
supper.  While  that  was  getting  ready,  we  strolled 
out  into  the  narrow,  winding  streets,  which  were 
thronged  by  sailors  and  fishermen,  of  whom  there 
are  sometimes  three  or  four  thousand  in  port  at 
once.  Supper  being  ready  at  9  P.  M.,  we  sat 
down,  and  made  a  night  of  it,  with  appetites  ren- 
dered keen  by  ten  days'  abstinence  from  the  forms, 
food,  and  appurtenances  of  civilized  life.  It  was 
pleasant  to  see  a  table-cloth  once  more,  to  sit  in  a 
chair,  and  to  eat  something  beside  fish  and  salt 
meat.  We  lodged  that  night  at  the  hotel,  and  it 
was  really  delightful  to  turn  in  withojit  pantaloons 
to  a  bed  broad  enough  to  roll  about  on. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       103 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

A    MARINE     MUNCHAUSEN.  — RATTLESNAKE     SOUP.— 
A  BIG   SNAKE.  — HELEN'S   GROTTO. 

THE  next  day,  Tuesday,  July  13,  there  was 
little  or  no  wind,  and  not  a  vessel  left  port.  We 
amused  ourselves,  therefore,  with  walking  about 
the  town  during  the  forenoon,  visiting  the  Pavil- 
ion, a  fine  hotel,  superbly  situated  on  the  edge  of 
the  harbor,  near  to  which  are  the  ruins  of  an  old 
fort,  commanding  a  fine  prospect,  where  we  basked 
for  an  hour  or  two  in  the  sunshine,  watching  the 
mackerel-fishers  in  the  harbor.  We  dined  at  the 
hotel,  and  after  dinner  went  on  board  the  sloop 
and  resumed  our  sea-rig. 

In  the  evening  we  received  visits  from  several 
Swampscott  skippers,  whose  vessels,  like  our  own, 
were  wind-bound  in  the  port.  One  of  these  men 
sat  with  us  till  midnight,  spinning  the  most  mon- 
strous and  incredible  yarns,  which  he  narrated 
with  a  serene  gravity  that  would  almost  have  per- 
suaded the  hearer  to  believe  any  lie.  He  was  a 
marine  Munchausen  of  the  first  water,  and  his 
adventures  were  nearly  as  wonderful  as  those  of 
the  renowned  Baron  himself. 

You  could  mention  no  island  that  he  had  not 
visited,  from  Borneo  and  Madagascar  down  to  No 


104  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

Man's  Land,  or  Pitcairn,  or  the  Isle  Royale  of 
Lake  Superior.  He  had  sailed  on  all  seas  except 
Dr.  Kane's  Open  Polar  Sea,  and  that  he  reluc- 
tantly admitted  he  had  only  seen  at  a  distance. 
He  had  conversed  with  all  potentates,  from  the 
Czar  Nicholas  to  the  King  of  the  Cannibal  Islands, 
and  kindly  gave  us  each  a  couple  of  cigars,  which 
he  said  were  from  a  box  presented  to  him  by  his 
friend  the  Captain-General  of  Cuba,  a  very  choice 
and  rare  brand  that  could  not  be  got  for  any 
money  even  in  Havana.  The  last  part  of  this 
assertion  was  probably  true.  No  such  cigars  were 
ever  seen  in  Cuba,  for  they  were  obviously  of  Con- 
necticut tobacco,  and  we  had  ourselves  bought 
some  of  the  same  choice  kind  at  a  shop  in  the 
main  street  of  Gloucester  for  two  cents  apiece. 

We  spoke  of  snakes.  On  this  topic  he  spread 
himself  amazingly.  He  had  often  seen  the  sea- 
serpent,  and  once  when  cruising  for  swordfish  off 
Nantucket,  had  harpooned  the  monster  from  the 
deck  of  his  vessel,  and  had  been  towed  out  to  sea 
a  hundred  miles  in  thirty  minutes,  when  the  line 
broke  and  the  creature  got  away. 

"  Rattlesnakes  ?  Yes,  sir ;  I  have  seen  rattle- 
snakes. Some  years  ago,  I  grew  tired  of  the  sea, 
and  took  a  farm  in  Illinois.  I  had  a  meadow 
on  the  prairie  of  three  hundred  acres,  and  when 
it  came  haying-time  rattlesnakes  were  so  thick 
there,  that  of  seven  Irishmen  I  sent  to  mow  it  one 
morning,  five  were  bitten  so  that  they  died  in- 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       105 

stantly,  and  the  other  two  were  only  saved  by 
keeping  them  constantly  drunk  with  whiskey  for 
more  than  a  month.  That  job  cost  me  a  barrel  of 
good  Bourbon,  beside  the  funeral  expenses  of  the 
dead  men." 

"  And  you  lost  your  hay  ?  "  said  the  Professor. 

"  Not  at  all.  I  had  seen  too  much  of  snakes  to 
be  bluffed  off  in  that  way.  I  had  a  pair  of  boots 
which  had  been  given  to  me  at  Buenos  Ayres  by 
General  Rosas,  of  the  kind  worn  by  the  Guachos 
on  the  Pampas  when  they  go  out  to  hunt  the 
jaguar.  They  are  made  of  the  toughest  bull's 
hide,  doubled,  and  I  was  confident  that  if  they 
could  resist  the  jaguar's  claws  they  could  the 
fangs  of  the  rattlesnake.  They  came  up  to  my 
hips,  and  I  put  them  on  one  fine  morning,  and 
taking  a  scythe,  went  into  the  meadow  and  began 
to  mow.  The  snakes  came  at  me,  a  dozen  at  a 
time,  and  whenever  they  struck  their  fangs  into 
the  tough  leather  it  held  them  fast.  I  took  no 
notice  of  them,  but  kept  on  mowing  till  they  hung 
in  such  numbers  about  my  legs  that  the  weight 
became  troublesome,  and  then  I  stopped  mowing 
and  cut  them  off  with  the  scythe.  I  had  to  do 
this  about  once  in  half  an  hour,  and  when  I  went 
home  to  dinner  there  were  so  many  heads  hanging 
to  the  boots  that  you  could  scarcely  see  the 
leather.  The  boys  picked  off  enough  to  fill  a 
peck  measure  heaping  full,  and  when  I  came  home 
to  supper  they  got  off  as  many  more.  I  kept  this 


106  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

up  for  a  fortnight,  and  by  that  time,  I  can  tell  you, 
snakes  were  getting  rather  scarce  in  that  particu- 
lar meadow." 

"  What  became  of  them  boots  ?  "  inquired  our 
Pilot,  who  had  listened  to  this  narrative  with  much 
apparent  interest. 

"  Them  boots,"  said  the  visitor,  lighting  one  of 
the  Captain-General's  Havanas  with  much  deliber- 
ation, and  rolling  the  weed  slowly  between  his  lips, 
evidently  to  gain  time  for  invention, — "them 
"boots  saved  my  life  not  long  afterwards.  You  see, 
I  soon  got  tired  of  farming  and  went  to  sea  again. 
I  bought  a  brig  in  New  York  and  started  on  a 
trading  expedition  to  the  west  coast  of  Africa. 
Off  the  Cape  de  Verdes  we  had  about  the  worst 
storm  I  ever  saw  in  my  life,  and  were  driven 
ashore  in  the  night  a  little  south  of  Cape  Blanco, 
where  the  Great  Desert  comes  down  to  the  sea. 
The  brig  struck  a  reef  running  out  under 
water  a  considerable  distance.  The  next  day  a 
whole  tribe  of  Arabs  appeared  on  the  beach  mak- 
ing signals  to  us.  I  went  ashore  to  see  what  they 
wanted,  and  as  I  did  not  like  to  expose  the  boat's 
crew  to  harm,  before  going  I  put  on  them  iden- 
tical boots,  which  I  had  always  kept  with  care,  in 
order  that  I  might  wade  from  the  boat  to  the 
beach.  As  the  water  was  shallow,  the  boat  could 
keep  a  good  way  out  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
javelins  and  spears  of  the  Arabs,  who  did  not 
seem  to  have  any  fire-arms.  As  soon  as  I  landed 


THE    COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       107 

I  was  seized  and  hurried  off  over  some  sand-hills 
to  their  camp.  Knowing  enough  of  their  lan- 
guage to  understand  most  of  what  they  said,  I 
soon  found  that  they  meant  to  entice  my  crew  on 
shore,  make  slaves  of  them,  and  plunder  the  ship. 
As  a  part  of  this  plan,  they  treated  me  civilly  for 
a  time,  only  taking  off  my  boots,  which  seemed  to 
strike  their  fancy  in  a  way  that  I  could  not  at  first 
comprehend.  But  I  soon  found  that  they  were 
almost  wholly  out  of  provision,  though  they  had 
plenty  of  water,  and  that  they  meant  to  make 
soup  of  the  boots.  They  accordingly  put  them 
into  a  big  iron  pot,  over  a  fire,  and  in  about  an 
hour  invited  me  to  partake  of  the  broth.  I  de- 
clined, and  they  ate  it  themselves.  In  half  an 
hour  afterwards  every  mother's  son  and  daughter 
of  them  was  as  dead  as  Julius  Cassar.  There  was 
rattlesnake  poison  enough  in  them  boots,  sir,  to 
destroy  all  the  Arabs  of  Arabia.  The  next  day 
we  got  the  brig  off  without  material  damage,  and 
we  found  gold-dust  enough  in  the  camp  of  the 
Arabs  to  make  every  one  of  the  crew  a  rich  man. 
That  was  on  the  whole  the  most  successful  voyage 
I  ever  made. 

"  But  speaking  of  snakes,  if  you  want  to  see 
snakes  you  must  go  to  the  East  Indies.  I  was 
once  lying  at  anchor  in  a  little  port  on  the  coast 
of  Sumatra,  waiting  for  a  cargo  of  pepper.  The 
weather  was  intensely  hot,  and  we  left  all  the 
hatches  open  at  night.  I  got  up  early  one  morn- 


108  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

ing  and  found  the  gunwales  of  the  ship  nearly 
down  to  the  water's  edge.  Supposing  that  we  had 
somehow  sprung  a  leak  and  were  sinking,  I  roused 
up  the  men  and  sent  a  couple  of  them  down  the 
main  hatchway  to  see  what  the  matter  was.  They 
did  not  come  back,  and  after  waiting  a  few  min- 
utes I  sent  the  mate,  who  looked  in  cautiously  with 
a  lantern,  and  reported  that  there  was  a  serpent  in 
the  hold,  and  that  he  had  probably  swallowed  both 
the  seamen,  as  the  feet  of  one  of  them  were  stick- 
ing out  of  his  mouth.  From  the  depth  to  which 
his  weight  had  sunk  the  ship  he  was  evidently  a 
big  one.  Prompt  measures  were  necessary.  I  di- 
rected the  men  to  rig  a  tackle  and  fall,  on  the  main 
yard,  and  let  down  a  stout  rope  with  a  running 
noose  right  over  the  hatchway.  I  then  mustered 
all  our  fire-arms  and  gave  the  snake  a  volley  to 
rouse  him.  He  soon  reared  his  head  out  of  the 
hold,  I  dropped  the  noose  over  it,  the  men  ran 
him  up,  while  the  mate  and  I  with  axes  chopped 
him  in  two.  He  was  so  long,  sir,  that  it  took  the 
whole  forenoon  to  haul  him  out  by  sections,  cut 
him  up,  and  throw  the  pieces  overboard." 

Wednesday,  July  14,  there  was  a  fog  in  the 
morning,  but  not  a  very  dense  one,  and  we  had 
grown  so  tired  of  inaction  that  we  rigged  a  pair  of 
oars,  and  about  9  A.  M.  began  to  sweep  the  sloop 
out  of  the  harbor,  —  a  slow  and  toilsome  process, 
but  successful  in  time.  We  passed  languidly  by 
the  villas  that  line  the  shores  of  the  harbor,  passed 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.      109 

the  light-houses,  passed  the  reef  of  Norman's  Woe, 
the  scene  of  Longfellow's  ballad : 

"  Such  was  the  wreck  of  the  Hesperus, 

In  the  midnight  and  the  snow ! 
Christ  save  us  all  from  a  death  like  this, 
On  the  reef  of  Norman's  Woe  !  " 

Great  schools  of  hardheads  were  rippling  the 
water  all  around  us.  A  light  breeze  at  length 
sprang  up,  and  we  laid  our  course  for  Rockport, 
on  the  outside  of  Cape  Ann.  Off  Thatcher's 
Island,  at  the  extreme  end  of  the  Cape,  we  en- 
countered a  fleet  of  large  sloops,  laden  with 
granite  from  Rockport,  which  they  were  taking 
to  Boston.  They  were  very  deeply  laden,  and  as 
they  rolled  along  they  dipped  a  volume  of  water 
which  immediately  poured  out  again  in  great 
streams  from  their  scuppers.  There  was  a  heavy 
swell  on  the  sea,  and  the  water  had  a  strange 
metallic  lustre  like  that  of  blue  steel.  We  had  a 
slow,  dull  breeze,  and  the  tide  was  against  us.  We 
did  not  advance,  on  an  average,  more  than  a  mile 
an  hour,  and  at  times  actually  retrograded. 

The  Professor  with  his  dip-net  caught  a  quan- 
tity of  beautiful  sun-squalls  as  they  floated  by. 
He  also  caught  up  some  floating  capsules  offucus, 
or  rockweed,  attached  to  which  we  found  speci- 
mens of  the  Anatifa  vitrea,  a  species  of  duck- 
barnacle.  This  curious  animal,  having  a  regular 
multivalve  shell,  was  long  thought  to  be  a  mollusk, 
and  was  so  classed.  It  is  now,  however,  placed 


110  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

among  the  crustaceans,  and  the  young  of  it  is 
found  to  be  a  small  crustacean,  swimming  freely  in 
the  water.  This  animal  has  a  stout,  fleshy  pedun- 
cle for  attachment.  Its  flattened  body  is  enclosed 
in  two  large  principal  valves  and  several  small 
supplementary  ones.  From  between  these  valves 
a  horse-shoe  shaped  cluster  of  long,  curved,  cirri- 
form  arms  are  protruded,  which  sweep  through 
the  water  with  a  grasping  motion,  in  search  of 
food.  In  the  centre  of  this  cluster  the  mouth  is 
situated. 

We  were  nine  hours  in  going  nine  miles.  Grad- 
ually the  swell  subsided,  and  the  sea  grew  very 
smooth,  with  a  gray  leaden  hue.  Flocks  of  terns 
were  wheeling  and  screaming  overhead,  and 
schools  of  pollack  leaping  all  around  us. 

When  within  a  mile  of  Rockport,  as  we  coasted 
slowly  along,  at  no  great  distance  from  the  high, 
rugged  shore,  we  discerned  among  the  fissures  in 
the  rocks  a  cavity  of  unusual  size  which  greatly 
attracted  our  curiosity.  The  Professor  and  I  took 
the  dory  and  rowed  into  it ;  not  without  difficulty, 
notwithstanding  the  unusual  smoothness  of  the 
sea.  It  proved  to  be  a  high  narrow  cavern,  ex- 
tending about  a  hundred  feet  into  the  rock.  We 
named  it  Helen's  Grotto,  in  honor  of  the 
sloop.  On  emerging  from  it  we  found  the  vessel 
had  kept  on  her  way,  instead  of  lying  to  for  us, 
and  was  already  at  the  entrance  of  Rockport 
harbor.  We  accordingly  had  to  row  after  her, 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       HI 

and  as  the  tide  was  against  us  did  not  overtake 
her  till  she  came  to  anchor  in  the  middle  of  this 
curious  little  port,  which  is  partly  artificial,  and 
will  shelter  fifty  or  sixty  small  vessels. 

We  made  our  supper  on  cunners,  which  we 
caught  from  the  side  of  the  vessel,  and  on  bread, 
for  which  we  sent  one  of  the  men  ashore,  and 
went  to  bed  at  9  o'clock,  a  dark  fog  covering  the 
water  and  giving  us  a  poor  prospect  for  a  rapid 
voyage  to-morrow. 


112  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 


CHAPTER    XV. 

EOCKPORT  HARBOR.  — THE  KING  OF  THE  GUNNERS.— 
LOBSTER-FISHING.  —  THE  ASSYRIAN  STARTLED. 

THE  town  of  Rockport,  in  one  of  whose  harbors 
we  brought  the  Helen  to  anchor  about  sunset  on 
Wednesday,  July  14,  is  declared  by  the  veracious 
Gazetteer  of  Hayward  to  lie  four  miles  northeast 
from  Gloucester  Harbor,  thirty-six  northeast  from 
Boston,  and  eighteen  northeast  from  Salem.  It 
comprises  all  the  seaward  portion  of  the  extremity 
of  Cape  Ann,  and  from  the  settlement  of  New 
England  to  the  present  time,  the  men  of  Rockport 
have  been  distinguished  for  their  enterprise  in  the 
fisheries,  "  thereby,"  as  Hayward  judiciously  re- 
marks, "  rendering  them  serviceable  to  their 
country  abroad,  and  fit  companions  for  its  intelli- 
gent and  rosy-cheeked  damsels  at  home." 

We  saw  but  little  of  the  town.  The  fog  was  so 
dense  that  we  could  only  discern  that  we  were  in 
a  small  harbor,  partly  artificial,  with  a  huge  mole 
of  granite  between  us  and  the  ocean.  There 
were  fifteen  or  twenty  schooners  in  the  port 
which  afforded  room  for  perhaps  twice  as  many 
more. 

The  Artist  and  I  got  the  Skipper  to  row  us 
ashore  before  breakfast  next  day,  July  15.  We 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       113 

landed  on  a  dirty  beach,  covered  with  the  decay- 
ing offal  of  fish,  the  stench  of  which  was  almost 
suffocating.  •  A  narrow  street  led  us  to  the  centre 
of  a  large  and  prosperous-looking  village,  where 
we  mailed  our  letters,  and  made  some  purchases, 
especially  of  "  soft  tack,"  of  which  we  bought  a 
quantity  that  caused  the  baker  to  stare  and  gasp 
with  amazement.  We  knew  we  should  be  likely 
to  get  none  for  several  days,  and  had  found  by  ex- 
perience that  six  healthy  men,  with  sea  appetites, 
could  consume  an  enormous  amount  of  bread. 

When  we  got  on  board  again  we  found  the  Pro- 
fessor and  the  Assyrian  in  a  state  of  deep  disgust 
at  the  smell  of  rotten  fish  which  filled  the  air,  and 
which,  indeed,  had  been  so  disagreeable  on  the 
previous  evening  that  we  should  have  hoisted 
anchor  and  gone  outside  of  the  harbor  to  pass  the 
night  on  the  open  sea,  had  not  the  fog  been  so 
thick  that  we  could  not  see  our  vessel's  length 
ahead  of  us.  It  was  so  unpleasant  on  deck,  that, 
immediately  after  supper,  we  had  lighted  our 
cigars  and  closed  the  cabin  doors,  to  smother  with 
the  fumes  of  tobacco  the  fishy  odors  from  the 
shore. 

As  soon,  therefore,  as  breakfast  was  over,  we 
raised  the  anchor,  rigged  the  oars,  and  rowed  our 
little  vessel  out  of  the  port,  just  as  so  many  Greeks 
would  have  done  three  thousand  years  ago.  I 
have  been  amused  during  the  whole  of  this  cruise 
with  its  resemblance  to  the  style  in  which  the  an- 


114  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

cients  made  their  voyages.  The  Helen,  I  suppose, 
could  not  be  much  smaller  than  the  bark  which 
carried  her  namesake,  the  faithless  wife  of  Mene- 
laus,  from  Sparta  to  Troy.  And  though  we  did 
not,  like  the  Greeks  of  that  age,  haul  our  vessel 
on  shore  at  night,  we  ran  regularly  into  port  as  the 
darkness  approached,  and  never  ventured  far  from 
land.  The  coast  of  New  England,  north  of  Bos- 
ton, with  its  inlets  and  islands  and  rocky  headlands 
and  frequent  harbors,  is  not  unlike  the  coast  of 
Greece.  Cape  Ann,  and  Casco  Bay,  and  Mount 
Desert,  abound  in  promontories,  which  only  re- 
quire to  be  crowned  with  temples  to  compare  well 
with  "  Sunium's  marbled  steep,"  or 

"  The  rocky  brow 
Which  looks  o'er  seaborn  Salamis." 

The  fog  was  still  as  dense  as  ever,  and  when  we 
had  got  half  a  mile  or  so  outside  the  harbor  we 
ceased  rowing  and  let  the  vessel  drift.  The  Pro- 
fessor, taking  a  couple  of  cod-lines,  got  into  the 
dory  and  rowed  away  from  the  vessel.  In  two 
minutes  he  was  out  of  sight,  and  presently  the 
sound  of  his  oars  became  inaudible.  The  tide 
was  drifting  us  away  from  the  land,  and  we  soon 
grew  anxious  for  the  safety  of  our  companion. 
Though  the  sea  was  as  smooth  as  ever  I  have  seen 
it,  the  rugged  coast  in  that  quarter  is  accessible  to 
boats  only  by  the  harbors.  And  in  such  a  fog, 
without  a  compass,  the  Professor,  after  a  few  turns 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       115 

round,  would  have  found  it  as  difficult  to  make 
the  land  as  to  recover  the  sloop. 

The  Skipper,  who  was  seriously  alarmed,  took 
the  horn  and  sounded  a  sonorous  blast.  It  was 
presently  answered  by  a  blast  from  the  land.  All 
along  the  coast,  as  far  north  as  population  extends, 
even  to  Labrador,  the  humane  and  kindly  custom 
prevails  of  blowing  a  horn  in  time  of  fog  as  a 
guide  to  the  mariner.  Such  a  signal  from  a  vessel, 
anywhere  from  Cape  Ann  to  Labrador,  will  be 
promptly  responded  to  from  the  shore,  if  the  shore 
is  inhabited.  We  blew  again  at  intervals  of  five 
minutes  to  guide  the  Professor.  By  and  by  we 
heard  the  sound  of  oars,  and  that  gentleman  came 
alongside,  having  caught  nothing  but  a  lobster, 
which  he  had  somehow  contrived  to  entice  into 
his  dory.  • 

He  seemed  in  no  hurry  to  come  on  board,  but 
asked  the  Skipper  to  give  him  a  cup  of  water,  a 
piece  of  bread,  and  half  a  dozen  cigars.  He  then 
said  to  me,  — 

"  You  are  always  interested  in  cunner-fishing, 

C .  Jump  into  the  dory  and  come  along, 

and  I  will  show  you  the  king  of  the  cunners. 
But  first  light  a  cigar,  and  take  a  couple  of  lines 
from  that  locker.  There  —  give  me  a  light  —  and 
take  the  oars,  if  you  please,  while  I  see  if  I  can 
make  this  confounded  leon  cToro  burn.  I  have 
used  up  half  a  bunch  of  matches  on  it  already." 

The  golden  lion  would  not  burn,  and  was  at 


116  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

length  flung  into  the  water.  I  pulled  toward  the 
shore,  while  the  Professor  lighted  another  cigar 
and  baited  the  lines  with  the  flesh  of  the  lobster 
he  had  taken.  The  fog  was  so  dense  that  the 
shore  was  not  visible  until  we  were  close  upon  it. 
We  anchored  the  dory  in  water  ten  or  twelve  feet 
deep,  at  the  distance  of  as  many  yards  from  the 
high,  steep,  rugged  rocks,  black  and  slimy  with 
sea-weed,  that  line  all  that  part  of  the  coast  of 
Cape  Ann.  The  sea  was  as  smooth  as  glass,  and 
the  water  so  clear  that  the  smallest  objects  on 
the  bottom  were  distinctly  seen.  Directly  beneath 
our  boat,  and  for  a  few  feet  on  every  side,  the 
bottom  was  clean  sand,  free  from  weeds.  But 
this  clear  space,  which  was  about  twenty  feet  in 
diameter,  was  surrounded  by  heaps  of  rocks  which 
rose  to  within  three  or  four  feet  of  the  surface. 
Around  the  bases  of  these  rocks,  and  in  their 
crevices,  grew  a  dense  thicket  of  marine  plants, 
making  a  vegetable  ring  about  the  rocks  two  or 
three  feet  wide. 

"  Here  is  where  I  caught  the  lobster,"  said  the 
Professor,  "  and  with  patience  and  dexterity  we 
can  catch  enough  of  them  to  keep  us  supplied 
with  food  and  bait  for  the  rest  of  the  week.  Did 
you  ever  see  so  many  cunners  before  ?  Look 
sharp,  and  you  will  see  a  very  large  one." 

The  water  beneath  us,  indeed,  swarmed  with 
cunners  of  all  sizes  and  all  colors.  There  were 
some  not  larger  than  a  man's  finger,  and  others  that 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       H7 

appeared  upward  of  a  foot  in  length.  Most  of 
them  were  hlackish  in  hue,  but  there  were  several 
of  lighter  colors,  and  one  or  two  of  a  bright 
orange  tint.  There  must  have  been  hundreds 
of  them  in  sight  at  once.  They  swam  about 
slowly  and  lazily,  sometimes  hiding  in  the  thickets 
of  sea-weed,  then  gliding  out  and  cruising  vaguely 
round,  apparently  without  any  definite  object. 

I  lowered  a  baited  line  from  the  side  of  the 
boat.  In  a  moment  it  was  surrounded  by  a 
crowd  of  eager  fishes,  their  apathy  gone,  and 
their  tails  wagging  with  excitement.  I  now  saw 
an  explanation  of  a  phenomenon  that  had  often 
puzzled  me  while  fishing  for  cunners  in  water  so 
deep  or  turbid  that  the  fish,  until  caught,  were  not 
visible.  While  so  fishing,  you  frequently  have  a 
smart,  bold  bite,  and  your  line  is  carried  off  for  a 
yard  or  two  with  a  rush  that  makes  you  feel  sure 
you  have  caught  the  biter.  But  with  such  a  bite 
you  seldom,  if  ever,  take  a  dinner.  The  reason 
is,  as  I  now  saw,  that  it  is  only  the  smallest  eun- 
ners  that  bite  in  that  fashion  ;  too  small  they  are 
to  swallow  the  bait  readily.  Little  fellows,  not 
yet  arrived  at  years  of  discretion,  will  impudently 
thrust  themselves  in  among  a  crowd  of  larger  and 
wiser  fish,  who  are  gravely  contemplating  and 
smelling  the  bait  before  venturing  to  touch  it,  and 
suddenly  snapping  hold  of  a  corner  of  it,  a  young 
gentleman,  not  more  than  five  inches  long,  will 
drag  the  tempting  morsel  away  from  under  the 


118  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   02V 

very  noses  of  his  seniors.  He  seldom  runs  with 
it  more  than  two  or  three  feet,  however,  and  after 
the  first  impudent  rush,  drops  it,  and  scuds  off  as 
fast  as  his  tail  will  carry  him.  The  larger  cunner, 
if  he  takes  the  bait  at  all,  takes  it  soberly  and  con- 
siderately, and  does  not  make  a  greedy  snatch  at 
it.  He  is  very  expert  at  getting  the  bait  off  with- 
out being  caught  by  the  hook,  though,  where  cun- 
ners  abound,  there  is  such  a  crowd  and  so  much 
competition  that  the  wariest  fish  is  tempted  now 
and  then  to  an  incautious  and  fatal  bite. 

I  was  so  much  pleased  with  watching  the  move- 
ments of  the  cunners,  that  I  did  not  care  to  catch 
them.  I  had  taken  five  or  six  of  moderate  size, 
who  would  hook  themselves  in  spite  of  my  endeav- 
ors to  prevent  it,  and  had  exhausted  my  share  of 
the  bait,  when  the  Professor,  who  had  been  pulling 
them  up  in  considerable  numbers,  called  out  to  me 
from  the  other  end  of  the  dory : 

"  There  is  the  king  of  the  cunners  I  told  you  of. 
He  is  just  coming  round  that  point  of  rock.  Did 
you  ever  see  a  bigger  one  ?  " 

It  was,  indeed,  a  large  one,  —  by  far  the  largest 
cunner  I  had  ever  seen.  His  great  comparative 
size  was  apparent  when  he  moved  in  a  throng  of 
his  own  species,  as  he  did  presently,  sauntering 
about  for  a  few  minutes  with  a  stately  air,  brushing 
aside  his  subjects  with  a  majestic  sweep  of  his 
tail.  After  promenading  for  a  short  time  without 
finding  anything  worthy  of  his  royal  attention,  he 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       119 

glided  slowly  into  the  recesses  of  a  patch  of  sea- 
weed at  the  base  of  one  of  the  rocky  heaps.  Not 
doubting  that  he  would  soon  reappear,  I  deter- 
mined to  capture  him.  I  cut  off  the  head  of  a 
small  cunner  and  fixed  it  securely  on  the  hook. 
The  common  herd  of  cunners  attacked  this  bait  as 
soon  as  it  was  dropped  among  them,  but  could 
make  nothing  of  it.  They  could  not  disengage  it 
nor  gorge  it,  and  it  was  so  hard  they  could  make  lit- 
tle impression  by  nibbling.  Still,  they  tugged  and 
pulled  and  pushed,  till  nearly  all  had  tried  their 
teeth  upon  it.  Not  one,  however,  could  take  it  in. 

At  length  the  big  one  came  out  of  his  lurking- 
place  among  the  sea-weed,  where  probably  he  had 
been  feeding  upon  Crustacea.  As  he  lounged 
about,  I  brought  my  bait  several  times  in  front  of 
his  nose.  Again  and  again  he  poked  it  away  with 
disdain.  At  length,  suddenly  it  seemed  to  strike 
him  as  something  that  demanded  attention.  He 
paused  before  it  for  about  a  minute,  evidently  con- 
sidering what  it  meant  as  it  hung  within  an  inch 
of  his  nose,  wagging  his  tail  gently  all  the  while  to 
keep  himself  in  position.  I  felt  sure  he  would 
take  it ;  but  no ;  with  one  sweep  of  his  tail  he 
wheeled  about  and  darted  away  toward  the  rocks. 

"  He  is  gone,"  said  I  to  the  Professor,  who  was 
watching  the  affair  with  interest. 

"  No,  there  he  comes  again  ;  he  has  thought 
better  of  it." 

The  cunner  had  got  his  nose  among  the  sea- 


120  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

weeds,  when  he  paused,  wheeled  again,  made  a 
straight  line  for  the  bait,  took  it  in  his  mouth 
without  the  slightest  hesitation,  and  deliberately 
marched  off  with  it  to  his  den  in  the  rocks.  He 
did  not  rush  off  as  a"  young  cunner  would  have 
done,  but  moved  away  with  a  grave  unconcern, 
that  said  as  plainly  as  words  could  say  it :  "I 
know  what  I  am  about.  I  have  fully  considered 
this  matter,  and  it 's  all  right.  This  prize  is  mine, 
and  I  'm  going  to  enjoy  it  comfortably  and  at 
leisure." 

I  gave  him  plenty  of  slack  line,  and  when  he 
had  got  fairly  housed  in  his  place  of  refuge,  I 
slowly  counted  a  hundred  before  I  ventured  to 
pull  him  up.  The  bait  was  so  large  and  tough 
that  I  doubted  whether  he  would  swallow  it. 
When  he  carried  it  off,  he  merely  took  hold  of  it 
with  his  thick,  fleshy  lips.  At  length  I  pulled.  I 
had  him.  He  had  fairly  swallowed  the  bait,  and 
was  fast  enough.  I  had  a  measuring  line  in  my 
pocket,  and  found  his  length  was  sixteen  inches. 
His  weight  I  cannot  tell,  for  we  neglected  to 
weigh  him  after  our  return  to  the  sloop. 

A  few  minutes  later  we  heard  the  sound  of  a 
horn  from  the  direction  in  which  we  judged  the 
Helen  to  have  drifted,  though  at  a  considerable 
distance. 

"  They  want  us  to  come  back,"  said  I ;  "  what 
can  the  matter  be  ?  " 

The  Professor  made  no  reply  for  a  moment,  but 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       121 

attentively  scanned  the  neighboring  shore,  as  if  he 
were  considering  the  state  of  the  tide.  At  length 
he  spoke. 

"  What  time  is  it  ?  I  have  left  my  watch  hang- 
ing in  the  cabin." 

"  So  is  mine.  I  have  n't  the  least  idea  of  the 
time.  In  this  fog,  all  hours  of  daylight  seem 
pretty  much  alike." 

"  As  well  as  I  can  judge  by  the  tide,"  said  the 
Professor,  "  it  is  considerably  past  noon.  I  have 
smoked  three  cigars,  which  ought  to  have  taken 
three  hours,  and  it  was  after  ten  when  we  set  out. 
I  suppose  they  want  us  to  come  to  dinner ;  but 
I  've  no  notion  of  going  back  without  a  lobster  or 
two  for  supper.  What  say  you  ?  " 

"  Agreed.  Hand  me  a  bit  of  that  bread,  and 
I  '11  stay  till  dark,  if  you  wish." 

Two  or  three  short  blasts  on  the  horn,  in  rapid 
succession,  indicated  that  our  comrades  were  get- 
ing  impatient. 

"  Let  them  toot,"  said  the  Professor  ;  "  it  will 
do  their  lungs  good.  Besides,  they  deserve  to  be 
worried  a  little  for  making  us  row  so  far  yesterday. 
Now  for  a  lobster." 

Being  a  good  deal  puzzled  to  comprehend  how 
he  expected  to  catch  lobsters  with  a  hook,  I 
watched  his  proceedings  with  attention.  While 
fishing  for  cunners  I  had  observed  several  lobsters 
prowling  about,  backing  in  and  out  from  the  sea- 
weed and  scattering  the  cunners  by  their  ap- 

6 


122  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

proach.  Two  or  three  small  flounders  had  also 
made  their  appearance,  sliding  along  on  the  bot- 
tom, taking  my  bait  with  their  usual  stupid  greed- 
iness and  getting  caught  accordingly.  The  Pro- 
fessor cut  a  piece  from  one  of  these,  fastened  both 
the  hooks  of  his  line  in  it  and  dropped  it  over  the 
side  of  the  dory.  It  was  instantly  surrounded  by 
a  crowd  of  cunners.  By  gently  jerking  the  line 
up  and  down  he  kept  these  from  stealing  the  bait, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  a  lobster  darted  out  of  the 
sea-weed,  and  rushing  among  the  crowd  as  if  to 
see  what  was  going  on,  put  them  to  flight.  He 
did  not  seem  to  notice  the  bait  himself,  but  the 
Professor,  following  his  movements,  dropped  the 
tempting,  morsel  in  front  of  his  claws.  Presently 
he  seized  it  with  avidity  and  conveyed  it  to  his 
mouth.  The  Professor  let  him  have  it  for  a  min- 
ute until  his  claws  were  somewhat  entangled  in 
the  line,  and  then  with  great  caution,  slowly  and 
gently  pulled  him  up  till  his  horns  or  feelers  ap- 
peared above  the  water.  Seizing  these  the  Pro- 
fessor drew  the  lobster  into  the  boat.  The  instant 
the  creature  felt  his  touch  it  disengaged  itself  from 
the  line. 

"  The  hook  is  of  no  use,"  remarked  the  Profes- 
sor. "  I  have  caught  them  in  this  way  with 
merely  a  piece  of  fish  tied  to  the  end  of  a  string. 
All  that  is  needed  is  quickness  and  caution.  The 
lobster  will  let  you  draw  him  to  the  surface  if  you 
do  it  quietly  so  as  not  to  alarm  him,  but  if  he  is 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       123 

frightened  in  the  least  he  is  off  like  a  flash.  You 
must  grab  him  the  instant  his  horns  are  out  of  the 
water." 

I  baited  my  line  with  a  piece  of  flounder,  and 
watched  for  a  long  time  in  vain.  But  one  lobster 
showed  himself,  —  a  small  one,  which  the  Professor 
caught.  I  was  nearly  out  of  patience  when  the 
Professor,  who  was  watching  his  line  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  boat,  said :  "  Here  is  the  father 
of  the  family,  probably  just  waked  up  from  an 
after-dinner  nap.  He  is  under  the  boat,  look  out 
for  him.  I  shall  leave  him  to  you." 

The  hard-shell  gentleman  thus  designated  soon 
appeared  on  my  side  of  the  dory.  He  was  truly  a 
large  one,  and  hideous  to  look  at.  For  a  good 
while  he  would  pay  no  attention  to  my  bait,  but 
amused  himself  with  chasing  the  cunners,  who 
sculled  out  of  his  way  with  an  alacrity  that  indi- 
cated no  small  degree  of  terror.  At  length  I  con- 
trived to  attract  his  notice  by  dropping  my  sinker 
on  his  head.  He  seized  the  bait  promptly,  with  a 
sort  of  clumsy  wrath,  and  conveyed  it  to  his  mouth. 
I  pulled  him  up  gently  an  inch  or  two  at  a  time 
till  his  horns  were  within  my  reach. 

"  Grab  him  !  "  said  the  Professor  who  had 
watched  the  proceeding  anxiously. 

It  was  easier  said  than  done.  I  put  out  my 
hand  to  take  him  by  the  horns,  but  with  so  much 
reluctance  to  run  the  risk  of  an  encounter  with  his 
formidable  claws,  that  before  I  had  secured  him  he 
let  go  the  line  and  sank  to  the  bottom. 


124  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

"Bah!"  exclaimed  the  Professor,  "you  have  lost 
him.  Was  that  cowardice  or  only  clumsiness  ?  " 

"  A  little  of  both,"  I  replied  ;  "  but  you  must 
recollect  that  I  am  not  accustomed  to  handle  lob- 
sters, whereas  you  have  been  intimate  with  the 
crab  tribe  ever  since  you  were  out  of  your  cradle." 

I  tried  again,  and  being  less  nervous,  succeeded 
in  getting  the  big  lobster  to  the  surface  and  lifting 
him  into  the  boat.  We  caught  three  more,  and 
concluded  we  had  enough  for  all  reasonable  wants. 
We  accordingly  pulled  up  the  killock,  and  the 
Professor,  who  hated  rowing,  sculled  the  dory 
slowly  out  to  sea  in  the  direction  from  which  we 
last  heard  the  sound  of  the  horn.  We  soon  lost 
sight  of  the  land,  and  could  see  nothing  of  the 
sloop.  Presently,  however,  we  heard  some  one 
singing,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  tall  mast  of  the 
Helen  loomed  through  the  fog.  In  another  minute 
we  could  see  her  deck,  but  no  one  was  visible  upon 
it.  Motioning  me  to  be  silent,  the  Professor 
slowly  and  noiselessly  impelled  the  dory  toward 
the  vessel's  bows.  The  singing  continued,  and 
we  perceived  that  it  came  from  the  Assyrian,  who 
was  lying  in  a  coil  of  rope  on  the  deck,  with  his 
face  toward  the  sky,  instead  of  watching  the  hori- 
zon, as  he  ought  to  have  done.  His  song  was  ap- 
parently suggested  by  our  absence  : 

"  Malbrook,  the  prince  of  commanders, 
Has  gone  to  the  war  in  Flanders ; 
His  fame  is  like  Alexander's,  — 

But  when  will  he  come  home  ? 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       125 

"  Perhaps  at  Trinity  feast,  or 
Perhaps  he  may  come  at  Easter. 
Egad  !  he  had  better  make  haste,  or 
Perhaps  he  ne'er  may  come." 

We  were  now  close  aboard  the  sloop,  and  the 
Professor,  putting  his  hand  to  his  mouth,  shouted 
through  it,  in  the  gruffest  tones  he  could  command, 
an  unintelligible  order  to  the  sloop  to  get  out  of 
his  way,  or  he  would  run  her  down.  The  startled 
Assyrian  sprang  to  his  feet  with  an  alacrity  that 
showed  how  imminent  he  thought  the  danger. 
Evidently  he  expected  to  see  a  vessel  of  at  least  a 
hundred  tons  bearing  down  upon  him  through  the 
fog. 

"  You  keep  a  bright  look-out  here,"  said  the 
Professor,  as  we  stepped  aboard. 

"  Malbrook,  my  prince  of  commanders,"  re- 
sponded Ninus,  "  you  have  given  a  great  shock  to 
my  nerves.  But  I  forgive  you,  in  consideration  of 
your  safe  return.  We  have  been  really  anxious 
about  you,  my  dear  fellow,  and  have  had  thought 
of  alarming  the  coast  and  turning  out  a  dozen 
steamboats  in  search.  As  it  is,  we  have  rowed 
this  infernal  galley  up  and  down  and  round  and 
round  till  we  are  all  beat  out.  Where  on  earth 
have  you  been  hiding  ?  " 

"  Is  dinner  ready  ? "  inquired  the  Professor, 
wholly  unmoved  by  the  Assyrian's  distresses. 

"  Dinner !     What  time  do  you  think  it  is  ?  " 

"  About  three,  or  perhaps  four,"  said  the  Pro- 
fessor. 


126  A  SUMMER   CRUIS&  ON 

It  was  nearly  seven.  They  had  had  a  dismal  day 
on  board  the  sloop,  —  had  seen  nothing,  caught 
nothing,  and  done  nothing  but  eat  and  sleep. 

As  night  was  fast  approaching,  and  we  were  re- 
solved not  to  return  to  Rockport,  we  had  no  alter- 
native but  to  pull  for  Pigeon-Cove  Harbor,  about 
two  miles  distant.  We  reached  there,  by  hard 
rowing,  just  about  dark. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       127 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

PIGEON-COVE.  —  CAMPHENE    COCKTAILS.  —  MUSICAL 
FISHERMEN. 

THE  little  harbor  of  Pigeon-Cove,  where  we 
anchored  about  dark  on  Thursday,  July  15,  is 
like  the  neighboring  harbor  of  Rockport,  partly 
artificial,  being  protected  from  the  ocean  by  a  high 
granite  wall.  It  was  filled  with  vessels,  mostly 
fishing-schooners,  of  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  tons, 
manned  each  by  ten  or  twelve  men.  They  had 
taken  refuge  here  from  the  fog,  and  were  waiting 
impatiently  for  a  breath  of  wind  to  enable  them  to 
get  away.  Most  of  them  were  from  Gloucester 
and  Swampscott,  though  there  were  a  few  from 
the  south  shore,  and  one  or  two  from  Province- 
town. 

While  we  were  rowing  the  vessel  into  port,  the 
Pilot  had  boiled  the  big  lobster,  and  made  tea. 
So  we  had  supper  immediately  on  coming  to  an- 
chor. After  supper,  the  Assyrian,  protesting  that 
in  consideration  of  the  fog,  the  lobster,  and  hard 
work  at  the  oar,  our  "  stom-jacks "  needed  and 
deserved  a  little  something  to  strengthen  them, 
volunteered  to  concoct  a  general  cocktail.  He 
produced  his  bottle  of  strong  bitters,  which  he 
kept  carefully  tucked  away  in  a  corner  of  his 


128  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

berth:  It  was  nearly  empty.  Still  there  was 
enough  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  cocktail  in  each 
of  the  six  tumblers,  which  stood  in  a  row  before 
him  on  the  cabin  table.  The  dark-red  fluid  was 
drained  to  the  last  drop.  Recorking  the  empty 
bottle,  the  Assyrian,  forgetting  that  we  were  not 
out  at  sea,  flung  it  through  the  cabin  door  with 
such  force  that  it  fell  smash  on  the  deck  of  a  ves- 
sel astern  of  us,  causing  a  gruff  shout  of, 
"  Halloa !  what  are  you  at  there  ?  " 

The  Skipper,  who  was  always  properly  tenacious 
of  the  proprieties  of  sea-life,  stepped  on  deck  for 
a  moment  to  explain  to  our  neighbors  that  the 
missile  was  unintentionally  sent  in  their  direction. 

The  Assyrian,  intent  only  on  his  cocktails, 
grasped  a  large  stone  jug  which  stood  conveniently 
at  hand,  in  a  recess  near  the  head  of  his  berth. 
He  elevated  it  in  a  peculiar  way  that  he  had 
prided  himself  on,  which  brought  the  body  of  the 
jug  to  rest  in  the  hollow  of  his  extended  arm.  I 
heard  him  mutter  as  he  felt  its  weight,  that  the 
whiskey  held  out  well,  if  the  bitters  had  given 
out. 

At  this  moment  the  Professor,  who  was  seated 
at  the  opposite  end  of  the  table,  drew  our  solitary 
lamp  toward  him  to  light  his  cigar.  The  Assy- 
rian, not  seeing  very  well  what  he  was  about,  de- 
canted a  pretty  large  allowance  into  each  glass, 
and  putting  in  a  little  water,  handed  the  tumblers 
around  and  requested  us  to  drink. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       129 

"  Confusion  to  the  fog  and  success  to  the  last  of 
the  cocktails." 

We  drank ;  and  then  followed  a  general  splut- 
tering and  spitting  forth,  accompanied  by  ener- 
getic requests  to  the  Assyrian  to  know  what  on 
earth  he  had  made  the  cocktails  of? 

That  gentleman  himself  had  swallowed  a  copi- 
ous draught,  and  was  exhibiting  alarming  symp- 
toms of  strangulation.  As  soon  as  he  could  speak, 
he  produced  the  jug  and  held  it  up  for  inspection. 
The  Skipper  burst  into  a  roar  of  laughter. 

"  Why,  that  is  the  burning-fluid  jug  ;  I  filled 
the  lamp  from  it  just  before  supper,  and  put  the 
jug  there  so  as  to  have  it  handy." 

"  Handy  it  was,"  said  the  Assyrian  with  a 
groan :  "  it  has  spoiled  our  cocktails,  and  for 
aught  I  know,  poisoned  us.  But  what  have  you 
done  with  the  whiskey  ?  " 

"  The  whiskey  is  all  gone,"  replied  the  Skipper, 
"  and  I  put  the  empty  jug  in  the  forepeak,  where 
I  used  to  keep  the  burning-fluid." 

"  Well,  well,"  said  the  Assyrian,  "  what  is 
swallowed,  is  swallowed.  There  is  an  end  to 
cocktails.  But  I  must  have  something  to  dilute 
this  confounded  camphene  in  my  stomach,  or  I 
shall  die  of  spontaneous  combustion.  There  is  a 
box  of  claret  in  the  forepeak,  Skipper ;  get  out  a 
couple  of  bottles,  and  let  us  wash  down  the  abom- 
ination. Keep  your  mouth  away  from  that  lamp, 
S ,"  addressing  the  Professor,  who  was  relight- 


130  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

ing  his  cigar ;  "  if  your  breath  comes  in  contact  with 
the  flame,  you  will  certainly  explode,  and  we  shall 
have  another  dreadful  burning-fluid  accident." 

The  Skipper  produced  the  claret,  and  as  the 
night  was  warm  and  still,  we  adjourned  from  the 
cabin  to  the  deck. 

It  was  very  dark.  The  soft  white  fog  envel- 
oped us  like  a  veil,  through  which  we  could  dimly 
discern  the  sea-wall  of  the  harbor,  looking,  as  it 
loomed  in  the  haze,  like  some  huge  castle,  or  like 

"  the  far-famed  hold 
Piled  by  the  hands  of  giants 
For  godlike  kings  of  old." 

We  could  see  vaguely  the  outlines  of  the 
thronged  vessels  around  us,  and  that  was  all. 
Everything  was  weird  and  mystic  and  spectral  in 
aspect.  All  around  us  were  voices,  but  not  a  man 
was  visible.  We  felt  like  those  in  the  Arabian 
story,,  who,  in  the  enchanted  forest,  heard  many, 
but  saw  no  one.  Talking  and  laughter  on  every 
side  showed  that  the  hundreds  of  fishermen  in  the 
harbor  were,  like  ourselves,  on  deck,  enjoying  the 
mildness  of  the  night. 

As  the  evening  wore  away  we  sipped  our  claret, 
smoked  our  cigars,  and  chatted  over  the  events  of 
the  past  and  the  projects  for  the  future,  or  listened 
dreamily  to  the  laughter  and  the  talk  that  came  so 
gayly  out  of  the  darkness.  At  length  there  was  a 
momentary  silence.  It  was  broken  by  a  song. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       131 

A  rich,  deep,  manly  voice  from  the  Venus,  a 
schooner  that  lay  some  distance  astern  of  us, 
sang  in  fine  style  a  sentimental  song,  elegantly 
worded,  and  full  of  simple,  tender  feeling.  I 
cannot  recall  the  lines,  but  it  expressed  the  long- 
ing of  a  sailor  for  his  home,  for  the  scenes  of  his 
childhood,  for  the  peace  and  innocence  of  rural 
life,  for  his  mother  and  sisters,  for  the  waving 
woods,  and  grassy,  flowery  fields.  It  was  long, 
and  was  sung  slowly  and  distinctly,  with  perfect 
taste  and  propriety  of  pronunciation.  The  most 
entire  silence  prevailed.  Not  a  sound  broke  the 
universal  hush  of  attention,  save  the  low  ripple  of 
the  tide  pouring  through  the  narrow  entrance  of 
the  port.  As  the  song  closed  there  was  an  in- 
stant's pause,  and  then  there  resounded  at  once 
over  the  harbor  the  vehement  clapping  of  hun- 
dreds of  hard  hands.  It  was  very  striking,  this 
simultaneous  and  hearty  applause  from  an  invisible 
audience,  shrouded  in  darkness  and  mist. 

Presently  some  one  on  the  other  side  of  the  har- 
bor began  a  song  which  our  Pilot  said  was  called 
"  Cape  Ann."  It  seemed  to  have  no  meaning,  or 
if  any,  a  mystical  one,  like  "  the  House  that  Jack 
built."  It  began : 

"  We  hunted  and  we  halloed,  and  the  first  thing  we  did  find 
Was  a  bam  in  the  meadow,  and  that  we  left  behind. 

Look  ye  there  !  " 

The  only  allusion  to  Cape  Ann  that  caught  my 
ear  was : 


132  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

"  We  hunted  and  we  halloed,  and  the  next  thing  we  did  find 
Was  the  lighthouse  on  Cape  Ann,  and  that  we  left  behind. 

Look  yc  there ! 

"  One  said  it  was  the  lighthouse,  but  the  other  he  said  nay, 
He  said  it  was  a  sugar-loaf  with  the  paper  blown  away. 

Look  ye  there  ! " 

A  good  many  voices  joined  in  singing  this,  as  if 
it  were  familiarly  known,  but  it  was  not  applauded. 
The  same  voice  began  "  Annie  Laurie,"  in  which 
also  a  number  joined. 

"  They  sing  of  love,  and  not  of  fish, 

Forgot  is  Gloucester's  glory ; 
Each  heart  recalls  a  different  name, 
Though  all  sing  Annie  Laurie  !  " 

said  the  Assyrian,  parodying  the  lines  of  Bay- 
ard Taylor  on  an  incident  in  the  siege  of  Sebasto- 
pol. 

The  voice  from  the  Venus  took  up  the  strain  of 
love  in  a  song  which  none  of  us  remembered  to 
have  heard  or  read,  and  of  which  I  caught  only  a 
few  lines : 

"  Bend  softly  down,  ye  gentle  skies, 

Bend  softly  down  to  me, 
That  I  may  see  those  spirit  eyes, 

If  spirit  eyes  they  be. 
Bend  gently  down,  for  I  have  dreamed 

That  there  were  forms  above, 
In  every  pearly  star  that  beamed, 

Made  up  of  light  and  love." 

It  was  well  sung,  and  warmly  applauded.  The 
singer  continued  with  another  song,  beginning : 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       133 

"  When  stars  are  in  the  quiet  skies, 

Then  most  I  pine  for  thee  ; 
Bend  on  me,  then,  thy  tender  eyes, 
As  stars  look  on  the  sea." 

"  Bulwer,  by  Jove !  "  exclaimed  the  Assyrian. 
"  Where  did  the  fellow  pick  that  up,  I  wonder  ?  " 

"  In  some  sailor's  song-book,"  said  the  Professor. 
"  The  most  popular  song-books  among  our  New 
England  sailors  abound  in  pieces  of  that  sort,  sen- 
timental and  poetical.  You  will  find  the  best 
songs  in  the  language  in  them.  But,  come,  son  of 
Semiramis,  let  them  hear  your  voice.  Give  them 
something  stirring,  something  bacchanal.  We 
have  had  enough  of  the  lackadaisical.  With  a 
bottle  of  claret  down  your  throat,  you  ought  to  do 
justice  to  the  theme." 

The  son  of  Semiramis,  who  sang  finely,  and 
liked  to  hear  his  own  voice,,  readily  complied.  "  I  '11 
try  them  with  Wendell  Holmes's  Song  of  Other 
Days,  though  I  fear  it 's  a  touch  above  their  com- 
prehension." 

"  Not  a  bit,"  said  the  Professor,  "  they  '11  under- 
stand it  as  well  as  you  do,  —  go  ahead." 

And  so  the  Assyrian  lifted  up  his  voice  and  sang 
that  song  which  is  in  parts  so  beautiful  that  it  can- 
not be  too  often  copied : 

"  As  o'er  the  glacier's  frozen  sheet 
Breathes  soft  the  Alpine  rose, 
So  through  life's  desert,  springing  sweet, 
The  flower  of  Friendship  grows ; 


134  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

And  as,  where'er  the  roses  grow, 

Some  rain  or  dew  descends, 
'T  is  Nature's  law  that  wine  should  flow 
To  wet  the  lips  of  friends. 

Then  once  again,  before  we  part, 

My  empty  glass  shall  ring; 
And  he  that  has  the  warmest  heart 
Shall  loudest  laugh  and  sing. 

"  They  say  we  were  not  born  to  eat ; 

But  gray-haired  sages  think 
It  means,  —  Be  moderate  in  your  meat, 

And  partly  live  to  drink  ; 
For  baser  tribes  the  rivers  flow, 

That  know  not  wine  or  song ; 
Man  wants  but  little  drink  below. 

But  wants  that  little  strong. 

"  If  one  bright  drop  is  like  the  gem 

That  decks  a  monarch's  crown, 
One  goblet  holds  a  diadem 

Of  rubies  melted  down  ! 
A  fig  for  Caesar's  blazing  brow, 

But,  like  the' Egyptian  Queen, 
Bid  each  dissolving  jewel  glow 

My  thirsty  lips  between. 

"  The  Grecian's  mound,  the  Roman's  urn, 

Are  silent  when  we  call, 
Yet  still  the  purple  grapes  return 

To  cluster  on  the  wall ; 
It  was  a  bright  immortal's  head 

They  circled  with  the  vine, 
And  o'er  their  best  and  bravest  dead 

They  poured  the  dark-red  wine. 

"  Methinks  o'er  every  sparkling  glass 

Young  Eros  waves  his  wings, 
And  echoes  o'er  its  dimples  pass 
From  dead  Anacreon's  strings ; 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       135 

And,  tossing  round  its  beaded  brim 

Their  locks  of  floating  gold, 
With  bacchant  dance  and  choral  hymn 

Return  the  nymphs  of  old. 

"  A  welcome,  then,  to  joy  and  mirth, 

From  hearts  as  fresh  as  ours, 
To  scatter  o'er  the  dust  of  earth 

Their  sweetly-mingled  flowers  ; 
'T  is  Wisdom's  self  the  cup  that  fills, 

In  spite  of  Folly's  frown, 
And  Nature  from  her  vine-clad  hills 
That  rains  her  life-blood  down  ! 

Then  once  again,  before  we  part, 

My  empty  glass  shall  ring ; 
And  he  that  has  the  warmest  heart 
Shall  loudest  laugh  and  sing." 

The  applause  was  immense.  Round  upon 
round  of  clapping  rolled  over  the  harbor,  shaking 
the  fog  and  reverberating  among  the  piles  of 
granite. 

"  Do  you  remember,  C ,"  said  the  Assyrian, 

"  where  we  heard  that  song  before  ?  " 

"  Ay,  well  do  I  remember."  The  question  car- 
ried me  back  from  the  fogs  and  fishermen  of  Cape 
Ann  to  a  far  different  scene  in  Boston,  where, 
amid  a  gay  circle  that  included  some  of  the  fore- 
most wits  and  poets  of  New  England,  the  brilliant 
Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table  had  sung  the 
song  himself. 

Again  the  voice  from  the  Venus  began  to  sing. 


Drink  to  me  only  with  thine  eyes, 
And  I  will  pledge  with  mine," 


was  the  song. 


136  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

"  Where  did  you  first  hear  that  before  ?  "  said 
I  to  the  Assyrian.  "  In  the  course  of  your  three 
or  four  thousand  years  of  Pythagorean  existence 
you  must  have  heard  it  somewhere,  long  ago, 
either  in  the  original  Greek  or  in  Ben  Jonson's 
English." 

"  I  probably  first  heard  it  sixteen  hundred  years 
ago,  sung  by  some  Greek  fisherman  in  an  island  of 
the  jJEgean,  —  perhaps  at  Lemnos  itself.  Who 
knows?  But  the  circumstance  has  escaped  my 
memory.  Skipper,"  continued  the  Assyrian,  turn- 
ing to  that  personage,  who  was  sitting  on  the  taf- 
frail  soberly  solacing  himself  with  a  pipe,  "  take  the 
dory  and  carry  a  bottle  of  claret  over  to  the  Ve- 
nus, with  the  compliments  of  the  Helen  to  the  man 
who  has  been  singing." 

"  Nonsense,"  interposed  the  Professor.  "  Don't 
send  them  claret,  —  they  will  take  it  for  bad  vin- 
egar. A  couple  of  bottles  of  ale  will  be  much 
more  acceptable." 

The  amendment  was  accepted  by  the  original 
mover,  and  in  a  moment  or  two  the  Skipper  sculled 
away  in  the  dory,  his  pipe  gleaming  through  the 
fog  like  a  will-o'-the-wisp.  He  presently  returned 
with  the  thanks  of  the  Venus  for  the  present. 
The  vessel,  he  said,  was  a  mackerel-fisher,  with 
eight  or  ten  men  on  board,  and  was  waiting  for  the 
fog  to  lift  before  she  started  for  the  fishing-grounds. 
The  singer  was  a  good-looking  young  man  who 
seemed  to  be  the  mate. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       137 

The  Professor,  whose  summer  cruises  in  past 
years  had  brought  him  much  in  contact  with  the 
fishermen,  said  they  were  a  remarkably  intelligent 
and  efficient  body  of  men.  A  slow,  stupid,  lazy 
fellow  could  not  succeed  in  their  vocation,  which, 
as  pursued  on  our  shores,  was  well  calculated  to 
call  out  each  man's  individual  smartness  and  gump- 
tion. Of  the  hundreds  of  fishermen  then  in  the 
harbor  where  we  lay,  probably  every  one  had  re- 
ceived a  good  common-school  education,  and  nine 
tenths  of  them  were  qualified,  by  character  and 
intelligence,  to  take  command  of  vessels. 

It  was  now  midnight,  and  the  air  had  become 
chilly.  So  we  went  below  and  turned  in  to  sleep. 


138  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 


CHAPTER    XVII.  . 

CONGER-EELS.  —  FOR   THE    ISLES   OF    SHOALS.  —  THE 
VIKINGS. 

THE  next  morning,  Friday,  July  16,  the  fog 
was  very  dense,  but  the  sun  was  shining,  and  the 
air  soon  grew  hot.  The  old  Pilot  said  he  thought 
the  fog  would  lift  at  noon,  so  we  rowed  the  sloop 
out  upon  the  ocean  to  be  ready  for  the  breeze  if  it 
should  spring  up. 

Off  Halibut  Point  the  Professor  dredged,  but 
got  little,  the  bottom  being  muddy.  The  rest  of 
us  fished,  and  caught,  among  other  things,  a  couple 
of  conger-eels  about  two  feet  each  in  length. 
They  were  of  a  yellowish  white,  mottled  with 
dirty  spots,  the  head  and  neck  thick,  the  mouth 
large,  but  the  body  slender  and  snake-like.  These 
creatures  have  been  caught  ten  feet  long  and  as 
thick  as  a  man's  arm.  The  Professor  dissected 
those  we  took,  and  found  in  their  stomachs  a  large 
quantity  of  crustaceans  belonging  to  the  order  Te- 
tradecapoda, — fourteen-legged.  This  order,  he  told 
us,  is  very  numerous  in  species,  and  contains  two 
principal  groups  ;  the  first  group  consisting  of  ver- 
tically compressed  species,  —  the  second,  of  hori- 
zontally flattened  species.  The  first  group,  from 
the  form  of  their  bodies,  walk  upon  their  sides, 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       139 

and  the  second  upon  their  bellies.  About  fifty 
species  of  the  first  group  have  been  found  on  our 
coast.  They  are  very  active  little  creatures,  and 
are  interesting  in  aquaria,  because  they  are  very 
quarrelsome,  and  are  generally  engaged  in  mis- 
chief, except  when  they  are  at  work  building  their 
houses,  which  consist  of  little  tubes.  They  are 
found  at  all  depths,  from  high-water  mark  to  fifty 
fathoms.  Some  kinds  are  found  floating  at  the 
surface,  and  are  known  as  sand-hoppers,  beach- 
fleas,  sea-fleas,  sea-screws.  Of  the  flattened  forms, 
some  are  known  as  sea-cockroaches,  sea-pillbugs, 
and  other  strange  appellations. 

About  the  middle  of  the  forenoon,  to  our  great 
relief,  —  for  we  were  heartily  tired  of  the  fog,  and 
longed  to  be  on  our  way  Down  East,  —  a  light 
southeast  breeze  sprung  up.  We  started  at  once 
for  the  Isles  of  Shoals,  which  lay  nearly  due  north 
from  us,  about  twenty  miles  distant.  We  headed 
somewhat  easterly  to  counteract  the  current  which 
sets  into  Ipswich  Bay  on  the  flood  tide.  The 
breeze  increased,  and  we  dashed  on  finely  through 
the  fog,  keeping  a  sharp  lookout  ahead.  After 
running  about  two  hours,  we  suddenly  met  a  large 
schooner  bearing  down  upon  us.  She  emerged 
from  the  fog  like  a  spectre,  and  passed  close  to  us. 
Her  skipper,  standing  on  the  taffrail,  hailed  as  she 
swept  by  :  "  Whereaway  is  Cape  Ann  ?  " 

"  Ten  or  twelve  miles  south  by  west,"  responded 
our  Pilot,  who  said  the  stranger  was  a  mackerel 


140  A    SUMMER    CRUISE   ON 

vessel,  probably  on  her  way  home  from  the  Isles 
of  Shoals.  In  a  moment  she  vanished  into  the 
mist. 

Soon  after  this  the  fog  began  to  clear  away, 
which  it  did  rapidly  and  beautifully,  curling  and 
wreathing  and  rolling  off  its  soft  fleeces  whiter 
than  wool,  until  insensibly  they  melted  into  thin 
air.  Then,  far  off  before  us,  about  2  o'clock,  we 
saw  on  the  horizon  a  white  spot,  like  an  immense 
ship,  or  like  a  house  built  right  in  the  sea.  This, 
the  Pilot  said,  was  White  Island  Lighthouse,  the 
southernmost  point  of  the  Isles  of  Shoals. 

I  remembered,  as  we  silently  glided  on  in  our 
little  bark,  with  our  eyes  fixed  upon  the  white 
spot  in  the  distance,  which  gradually  rose  higher 
and  higher  above  the  horizon,  a  story  in  the  Ara- 
bian Nights,  in  which  some  one  embarks  in  a  boat 
and  sails  away  on  the  sea  till  presently  he  discerns 
a  castle  rising  from  the  water  far  off  before  him.  I 
remembered  also  Lowell's  description  of  a  storm  at 
the  Isles  of  Shoals,  and  what  he  says  of  the  white 
spot  toward  which  we  were  steering : 

"  Look  southward  for  White  Island  Light,— 
The  lantern  stands  ninety  feet  o'er  the  tide ; 

There  is  first  a  half-mile  of  tumult  and  fight, 

Of  dash  and  roar,  and  tumble  and  fright, 
And  surging  bewilderment,  wild  and  wide, 

Where  the  breakers  struggle  left  and  right, 
Then  a  mile  or  more  of  rushing  sea, 

And  then  the  lighthouse,  slim  and  lone ; 

And  whenever  the  whole  weight  of  ocean  is  thrown 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       141 

Full  and  fair  on  White  Island  head, 

A  great  mist-jotun  you  will  see 

Lifting  himself  up  silently, 
High  and  huge,  o'er  the  lighthouse  top, 
With  hands  of  wavering  spray  outspread, 

Groping  after  the  little  tower 

That  seems  to  shrink  and  shorten  and  cower, 
Till  the  monster's  arms  of  a  sudden  drop, 

And  silently  and  fruitlessly 

He  sinks  again  into  the  sea." 


A  grand  image  that,  comparing  the  columns  of 
spray  that  sometimes  in  a  great  storm  rear  them- 
selves above  the  lighthouse  a  hundred  feet  high, 
to  the  jotuns  or  giants  of  Scandinavian  mythology, 
rising  terrible  from  the  sea  to  assail  the  tower. 
It  would  have  pleased  the  bold  Northmen,  the 
Vikings,  who  a  thousand  years  ago  sailed  down 
this  coast  in  search  of  Vinland,  led  by  Leif,  the 
son  of  Erik  the  Red,  and  by  Thorstein,  his  brother. 
Doubtless  they,  as  well  as  we,  saw  the  surf  break- 
ing over  White  Island.  For,  though  we  saw  not 
the  jotun,  who  only  rises  in  a  storm,  the  breeze 
that  bore  us  along  sent  the  breakers  dashing  and 
foaming  splendidly  over  the  rock  on  which  the 
lighthouse  stands. 

At  2£  the  blue  peak  of  Agamenticus,  a  moun- 
tain on  the  coast  of  Maine,  appeared  in  sight  be- 
yond the  Isles.  It  is  seen  to  a  vast  distance  on 
the  ocean,  and  is  a  noted  landmark  among  the  fish- 
ermen and  seamen  who  navigate  these  stormy 
waters.  About  4  o'clock  we  reached  the  islands, 


142  A  SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

running  through  a  squadron  of  seine-boats,  cruis- 
ing for  mackerel,  and  passing  close  to  a  high  coni- 
cal rock,  rising  like  a  haystack  from  the  water,  on 
the  top  of  which  stood  a  picturesque  group  of  red- 
shirted  fishermen  watching  for  mackerel  schools. 

We  ran  to  the  westward  of  the  southern  islands 
for  some  distance,  and  then  hauled  up  and  entered 
the  harbor,  which  is  a  sort  of  roadstead,  where  we 
anchored  between  Star  Island  and  Appledore, 
famous  in  song  and  story. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       143 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

THE  ISLES  OF  SHOALS.  —  THE  PRINCE  OF  APPLEDORE. 
—  NIGHT  ON  THE  WATER. 

THE  Isles  of  Shoals  form  a  group  of  eight  small 
rocky  islets,  lying  close  together,  about  nine  miles 
from  the  Portsmouth  lighthouses.  The  largest  of 
them,  Appledore,  has  an  area  of  three  hundred  and 
fifty  acres,  or  a  little  more  than  half  a  square  mile. 
Star  Island,  the  next  in  size,  comprises  one  hundred 
and  fifty  acres ;  Haley's,  the  third  in  extent,  about 
one  hundred.  The  five  other  isles  are  mere  rocks, 
the  largest  measuring  not  more  than  eight  acres 
in  extent. 

These  islands  were  discovered  in  1614  by  Cap- 
tain John  Smith,  the  founder  of  Virginia,  and  seem 
at  one  time  to  have  been  of  some  importance.  It  is 
on  record,  I  believe,  that  a  session  of  the  Provin- 
cial Legislature  of  New  Hampshire  was  once  held 
here ;  and  on  Appledore  there  was  once  a  court- 
house and  a  church,  though  now  the  only  buildings 
on  the  island  are  a  summer  sea-side  hotel  and  one 
or  two  deserted  houses.  For  a  century  before  the 
Revolution  the  population  of  the  group  had  risen 
to  six  hundred.  Now  it  numbers  only  a  hundred, 
who  live  chiefly  in  a  village  on  Star  Island,  off 
which  our  vessel  lay.  William  Pepperell,  an  an- 


144  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

cestor  of  Sir  William  Pepperell,  the  taker  of  Louis- 
burg,  was  among  the  first  settlers  at  the  Shoals, 
and  there,  in  the  fisheries,  became  rich,  and  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  fortunes  of  his  family. 

The  neighborhood  of  the  Isles  is  a  famous  fish- 
ing-ground, and  as  soon  as  we  had  cast  anchor  we 
got  out  our  lines.  The  water  was  very  deep,  and 
we  caught  plenty  of  pollack  weighing  two  or  three 
pounds  apiece,  cunners  a  foot  in  length,  and  sev- 
eral cod  and  haddock.  After  fishing  awhile,  the 
Professor  determined  to  try  his  luck  with  the 
dredge  in  the  harbor.  The  Artist  and  I  got  the 
Pilot  to  row  us  in  the  dory  to  Appledore,  whose 
huge  five-storied  hotel,  perched  on  the  western 
side,  excited  our  curiosity.  We  landed  with  diffi- 
culty on  the  steep  and  slippery  rocks,  and  the  Pilot 
returned  to  the  sloop  to  take  the  Professor  and  his 
dredge. 

The  Artist  and  I  rambled  for  an  hour  or  two 
over  Appledore,  which  is  nothing  but  a  huge  rock, 
nearly  a  mile  in  length,  with  an  elevation  at  the 
highest  of  sixty  feet  above  the  sea.  It  is  seamed 
with  fissures,  apparently  the  work  of  earthquakes, 
for  no  other  power  is  adequate  to  their  production. 
The  vegetation  is  of  the  scantiest,  —  a  little  grass,  a 
few  bushes,  an  elm  and  a  cherry  tree,  and  a  patch 
of  potatoes  a  few  rods  square,  being  all  that  we 
could  discover.  A  small  green  snake  was  the  only 
wild  animal  I  saw.  The  tame  ones  were  a  cow 
and  a  few  sheep. 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       145 

"We  found  the  landlord  of  the  hotel,  the  proprie- 
tor and  prince  of  the  island,  sitting  on  the  broad 
veranda  watching  the  western  sky.  He  was  im- 
mensely stout  and  jolly,  and  facetious  as  becomes 
a  Boniface.  He  told  us  he  had  not  been  off  the 
island  for  thirteen  years,  and  pretended  to  be  much 
surprised  at  our  fondness  for  wandering  about, 
when  we  might  stay  quietly  at  home.  Our  pro- 
jected visit  to  Grand  Manan,  he  spoke  of  as  one 
would  a  voyage  to  Felix  Boothia  or  the  Antarctic 
Continent.  In  early  life  he  had  been  a  member  of 
the  New  Hampshire  Legislature  and  an  active  pol- 
itician, but  a  disappointment  of  some  kind,  perhaps 
of  love,  perhaps  of  ambition,  I  do  not  remember 
which,  had  led  him  to  obtain  the  office  of  keeper  of 
White  Island  light,  on  which  lonely,  storm-beaten 
rock  he  had  passed  many  years,  cut  off  from  man- 
kind more  completely  than  any  hermit  of  the  The- 
baid.  Tired  at  length  of  his  isolation,  he  had  re- 
linquished his  office  and  settled  on  Appledore, 
which,  though  more  extensive  in  territory,  was 
hardly  more  populous  than  his  lighthouse  rock, 
except  for  a  few  months  in  summer. 

Returning  to  the  shore  of  the  island  fronting  the 
harbor,  we  saw  afar  off  the  Professor,  in  his  red 
shirt,  busily  dredging,  with  the  Pilot  rowing  the 
dory.  We  had,  of  course,  to  wait  their  pleasure 
to  be  taken  off,  for  the  Assyrian  and  the  Skipper 
had  no  boat.  So,  after  exploring  a  ruined  house 
near  by,  we  seated  ourselves  on  the  rocks  and 
7  j 


146  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

watched  the  purple  sunset  behind  the  blue  moun- 
tains on  the  mainland.  In  the  course  of  half  an 
hour  the  Professor  returned  to  the  sloop  with 
the  spoils  of  his  dredging,  and,  after  putting  him 
on  board,  the  Pilot  came  and  took  us  off  the 
rocks,  —  not  without  difficulty,  so  steep  and  slip- 
pery with  sea-weed  was  the  shore. 

Among  other  things,  the  Professor  had  drawn 
up  from  the  bottom  specimens  of  the  Hippolyte,  a 
beautifully  painted  shrimp,  which  lives  in  groves 
of  laminaria  and  other  sea-weeds  ;  of  the  sea-cul- 
lender, a  broad,  rounded,  or  oblong  flat  leaf,  with 
a  narrow  midrib,  and  perforated  throughout  with 
small  round  holes  like  those  of  a  cullender  or 
strainer ;  of  the  sea-balloon  (JBeroe  pileus),  a  beau- 
tiful, transparent,  bullet-shaped  creature,  of  the 
size  of  a  common  walnut,  ornamented  with  eight 
rows  of  minute  flippers,  arranged  like  the  ribs  of  a 
melon  or  the  meridians  of  a  globe  ;  these  flippers, 
striking  in  the  proper  direction,  enable  the  animal 
to  move  through  the  water,  to  change  its  direction, 
and  to  turn  over.  It  is  provided  with  two  long 
ciliated  arms,  which  are  often  stretched  out  to  six 
or  eight  times  the  length  of  the  animal's  body. 
These  arms  are  thrust  out  from  two  cylindrical  cav- 
ities, extending  obliquely  upward  from  the  circum- 
ference to  the  centre.  These  sea-balloons  are 
among  the  most  beautiful  of  the  many  curious  ob- 
jects that  may  be  seen  floating  in  the  waters  of  the 
ocean  on  a  summer's  day. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       147 

There  was  also  a  specimen  of  the  Bolina,  alata, 
an  animal  of  the  same  family  and  habits  as  the 
Beroepileus,  but  much  larger  and  more  elongated. 
It  is  flattened  in  shape,  and  has  eight  pectinated 
ribs,  but  no  long  arms.  A  large  opening  at  the 
lower  extremity  forms  the  mouth. 

From  the  depth  often  fathoms  the  Professor  drew 
up  some  specimens  of  the  Hyas  coarctata,  or  north- 
ern spider-crab.  This  creature  is  very  sluggish, 
and  consequently  becomes  so  overgrown  with  sea- 
weeds and  polypes  as  to  resemble  a  walking  forest 
rather  than  a  crab.  Its  covering  serves,  however, 
for  concealment,  and  two  glistening  eyes  among 
the  foliage,  forever  on  the  watch  for  prey,  enable 
him  to  espy  and  seize  many  an  unlucky  mollusk 
who  creeps  unsuspectingly  near. 

Night  came,  and  with  it  a  slight  mist,  which 
glorified  while  it  partially  veiled  the  surrounding 
objects.  There  were  several  mackerel-jiggers  in 
the  harbor  from  Swampscott  and  Cape  Ann,  and 
their  officers  visited  us  to  inquire  for  news.  As 
we  sat  on  deck  chatting  and  smoking,  I  was  struck 
with  the  wildly  picturesque  nature  of  the  scene. 
The  moon  was  up,  and  her  light  blending  and 
struggling  with  the  soft,  floating  and  drifting  mist, 
disclosed  imperfect,  irregular  glimpses  of  the  rocky 
ribs  against  which  the  low  rote  of  the  sea  was  sound- 
ing. Southward,  at  no  great  distance,  White 
Island  light  was  revolving,  heightening,  as  it  now 
appeared  and  now  disappeared,  the  weird  impres- 


148  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

sion  of  the  moonlight  and  the  mist.  Presently  a 
large  schooner  came  gliding  into  the  harbor,  start- 
ing out  from  the  mist  with  a  silent,  ghost-like  sud- 
denness, the  effect  of  which  upon  the  imagination 
is  unlike  any  phenomenon  of  the  land  that  I  have 
ever  witnessed. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.      149 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

THE  E  PLURIBUS    UNUM.  —  A    BAIT-MILL.  —  THE  MONK- 
FISH.— TO    PORTSMOUTH    AND    PORTLAND. 

NEXT  morning  (Saturday),  July  17,  we  all  went, 
after  breakfast,  to  visit  a  Swampscott  mackerel 
schooner,  the  E  Pluribus  Unum,  which  lay  at  an- 
chor not  far  off.  On  our  way  to  her,  we  saw 
horse-mackerel  swimming  about  the  harbor  with 
their  sharp  back  fins  sticking  out  of  the  water. 
This  huge  fish  is  the  tunny  of  the  Mediterranean, 
where  it  swims  in  large  schools,  and  is  caught  in 
great  quantities,  especially  off  the  coast  of  Sicily. 
They  are  comparatively  rare  on  our  coast,  and 
these  were  the  first  we  had  seen,  though  we  heard 
of  them  almost  every  day.  They  are  found  some- 
times fifteen  feet  in  length,  and  weighing  a  thou- 
sand pounds.  Their  flesh  is  good  eating,  looking 
like  young  pork,  and  tasting  like  the  finest  mack- 
erel. The  men  of  the  island  caught  them  with 
harpoons. 

The  E  Pluribus  Unum  was  a  fine,  clean  vessel 
of  thirty-six  tons.  We  went  on  board,  partly  to 
see  the  vessel,  partly  to  grind  bait,  and  partly  to 
see  a  "  bait-mill,"  which  to  the  Assyrian,  the  Ar- 
tist, and  myself  was  an  entirely  novel  institution. 
In  fishing  for  mackerel  with  line  and  hook  from 


150  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

the  side  of  a  vessel,  the  first  thing  done  is  to  throw 
over  bait  to  attract  the  fish  to  the  surface.  This 
bait  consists  of  hardheads  or  other  poor  fish  cut  up 
into  very  small  pieces.  It  is  generally  reduced  to 
the  requisite  size  by  being  ground  in  a  mill.  The 
bait-mill  consists  of  an  oblong  wooden  box,  stand- 
ing on  one  end,  and  containing  a  roller  armed 
with  knives,  which  is  turned  by  a  crank  on  the 
outside.  It  cuts  up  the  bait  very  expeditiously. 

From  the  E  Pluribus  Unum  we  went  ashore  to 
look  at  the  curiosities  of  the  isles,  which  are  all  of 
a  melancholy  and  sinister  nature.  The  first  and 
most  famous  is  a  chasm  in  the  rocks  called  Betty 
Moody's  Cave.  Early  in  the  old  colony  times  the 
Indians  from  the  mainland  made  a  descent  upon 
the  islands,  and  killed  or  carried  off  all  the  inhab- 
itants except  a  Mrs.  Moody,  who  hid  herself  under 
the  rocks,  with  her  two  small  children.  The  In- 
dians made  sharp  search  for  fugitives,  and  the  un- 
happy mother,  unable  to  keep  her  infants  quiet, 
killed  them  with  a  knife  to  prevent  their  crying 
from  attracting  the  attention  of  the  savages  to  her 
hiding-place. 

Another  spot  among  the  rocks  on  the  shore  was 
the  favorite  resort  of  Miss  Underbill,  a  young  lady 
from  New  Hampshire,  who  taught  school  at  the 
island  for  two  or  three  years.  She  was  sitting 
there  reading  on  the  llth  of  September,  1848, 
when  a  huge  wave  came  and  swept  her  off  into  the 
ocean,  never  to  be  seen  again  on  earth.  Another 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       151 

place  of  tragical  interest  is  marked  by  the  graves 
of  sixteen  shipwrecked  mariners  washed  ashore  in 
a  storm.  They  lie  side  by  side,  each  with  a  stone 
at  his  head  and  feet. 

From  some  fishermen  on  shore  we  got  a  monk- 
fish,  which  they  had  just  taken  in  a  seine.  This 
hideous  monster  is  known  among  the  fishermen  by 
many  names,  — "frog-fish,"  "  mouse-fish,"  "  goose- 
fish,"  "  bellows-head,"  "  sea-devil,"  "  wide-gab," 
"  fishing-frog,"  and  "  angler."  It  is  called  "  wide- 
gab  "  because  its  mouth  is  so  large  sometimes  that 
a  man's  head  might  be  put  in  it.  The  term  "  an- 
gler "  is  derived  from  its  habits.  It  lies  on  the 
bottom,  concealed  in  mud  and  weeds,  with  two  or 
three  hair-like  filaments  sticking  up  from  its  head, 
looking  not  unlike  certain  marine  worms,  of  which 
other  fishes  are  fond,  who,  seeing  these  apparent 
worms,  approach  to  eat  them,  and  are  seized  by 
the  lurking  "  angler,"  who  is  too  sluggish  to  catch 
his  prey  by  active  pursuit. 

The  head  of  the  monk-fish  is  wide  and  flat ;  the 
mouth  nearly  as  wide  as  the  head.  The  jaws  are 
armed  with  numerous  teeth,  of  different  length, 
conical,  sharp,  and  curving  inward.  The  lower 
jaw  is  the  longer,  and  is  fringed  all  round  the 
edge  with  a  sort  of  beard.  The  eyes  are  large 
and  dull ;  the  pectoral  fins  broad,  and  rounded  at 
the  edge,  and  wide  at  the  base.  The  body  is  nar- 
row compared  with  the  breadth  of  the  head,  and 
tapers  gradually  to  the  tail.  The  whole  fish  is 


152  A  SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

covered  with  a  loose,  rough  skin,  blackish  brown 
on  the  upper  surface,  and  white  on  the  lower. 
The  specimen  we  got  measured  forty-four  inches  in 
length  and  thirty  inches  in  breadth.  It  weighed 
thirty  pounds.  We  took  it  on  board,  disembow- 
elled it,  filled  it  with  salt,  sewed  it  up  and  packed 
it  with  salt  in  a  box,  which  we  directed  to  the 
Smithsonian  Institute  at  Washington  and  forward- 
ed the  same  day  by  express  from  Portsmouth. 

The  morning  had  been  foggy  ;  but  at  11  A.  M., 
in  the  words  of  a  poet  who  I  remember  was  a 
visitor  at  Appledore  five  or  six  years  ago, 

"  The  mist  that  like  a  dim,  soft  pall  was  lying, 

Mingling  the  gray  sea  with  the  low  gray  sky, 
Floats  upward  now,  the  sunny  breeze  is  sighing,"  — 

and  we  raised  the  anchor  and  made  sail  for  Ports- 
mouth. Outside  the  harbor  we  passed  a  number 
of  seine-boats  watching  for  mackerel.  These  boats 
are  each  manned  by  six  men,  and  are  accompanied 
by  three  smaller  boats  with  one  man  in  each,  which 
row  around  and  keep  the  mackerel  in  a  body  while 
the  seine  is  being  cast.  After  the  seine  is  thrown, 
its  edges  are  drawn  into  the  large  boat,  leaving 
the  mackerel  in  the  centre  of  the  seine,  from  which 
they  are  scooped  out  into  the  small  boats  and  car- 
ried ashore. 

We  had  a  fine  southerly  breeze,  and  in  some- 
what more  than  an  hour  had  passed  the  Whale's 
Back  Lighthouse,  romantically  situated  on  a  rock 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND,      153 

in  the  sea,  and  had  come  to  anchor  inside  of  Fort 
Constitution,  off  New  Castle,  a  village  three  miles 
below  Portsmouth,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Piscataqua. 
The  tide  soon  turning,  and  running  very  strongly 
up  the  river,  we  took  advantage  of  it,  and  ran  up 
to  Portsmouth,  where  we  fastened  the  sloop  to  a 
wharf,  and  went  ashore  to  get  our  letters  and  make 
some  purchases. 

The  city  —  a  quiet,  clean,  aristocratic-looking 
place,  of  ten  or  twelve  thousand  inhabitants  —  is 
beautifully  situated  on  a  peninsula  on  the  south 
side  of  the  river,  the  land  sloping  gently  toward 
the  water.  The  harbor  is  remarkably  commodi- 
ous, well  protected  from  every  wind,  and  with 
forty  feet  of  water  at  low  tide.  The  river  oppo- 
site the  city  seemed  to  be  nearly  a  mile  wide,  with 
a  very  rapid  current,  moving  at  least  five  miles  an 
hour. 

At  6  P.  M.  we  dropped  down  to  our  former 
anchorage  at  New  Castle.  On  our  way  down,  we 
were  greatly  pleased  with  the  sight  of  the  work- 
men at  the  Navy- Yard  —  which  is  on  an  island 
opposite  Portsmouth  —  crossing  the  river  in  boats, 
returning  to  their  homes  in  the  city  after  the  con- 
clusion of  the  day's  labor.  It  was  the  largest 
flotilla  of  boats  I  ever  saw,  and  was  a  very  gay  and 
animated  scene. 

While  the  Pilot  was  getting  supper  ready,  the 
rest  of  us  went  ashore  to  visit  the  fort,  which  was 
built  in  1808,  on  the  site,  I  believe,  of  an  old 

7* 


154  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

British  fort.  We  were  very  civilly  received  by 
the  keeper,  Sergeant  Davison,  who,  with  his  wife 
and  children,  constitute  the  entire  garrison  at 
present.  We  found  him  an  intelligent  and  com- 
municative man,  and  remarkably  young  looking 
for  a  soldier  who  had  been  in  service  forty-one 
years.  The  fort  mounts  forty-six  guns,  mostly 
twenty-four  pounders.  The  ramparts  command  a 
beautiful  view  of  land  and  ocean,  and  we  lingered 
upon  them  till  long  after  sunset,  watching  the 
passing  ships,  and  the  lighthouses  flaring  up  as  the 
sun  went  down,  and  listening  to  the  talk  of  the  old 
soldier  about  his  battles  and  adventures.  He  had 
fought  through  the  Mexican  war,  and  had  served 
for  many  years  in  Florida  against  the  Indians. 

Soon  after  supper  we  were  boarded  by  one  of 
the  pilots  of  the  harbor,  who  was  so  drunk  that  he 
became  disagreeable,  and  we  had  to  intimate  to 
him  pretty  clearly  that  he  had  better  take  his  de- 
parture, which  he  accordingly  did.  If  his  condi- 
tion at  the  time  was  any  specimen  of  his  usual 
state,  it  is  a  proof  of  the  excellence  of  Portsmouth 
harbor  that  vessels  get  in  at  all  under  such 
guidance. 

The  next  morning  (Sunday),  July  18,  was  clear 
and  mild,  with  a  fair  and  gentle  breeze  from  the 
south.  We  got  under  way  at  7  o'clock,  and, 
passing  out  of  the  harbor,  steered  to  the  northeast, 
keeping  about  two  miles  from  the  shore.  We  were 
soon  surrounded  by  large  schools  of  mackerel,  and 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       155 

as  we  wanted  some  for  dinner,  we  laid  to  and 
tried  to  "  toll  "  them,  as  the  fishermen  call  it,  by 
throwing  over  handfuls  of  our  minced  bait.  But 
we  could  not  get  a  bite.  The  Professor  took  the 
dory  and  rowed  repeatedly  into  the  middle  of  a 
school  with  no  better  success.  The  fish  were  ca- 
pricious, and  would  not  touch  the  bait. 

The  weather  was  delightful,  and  we  basked  lux- 
uriously on  deck,  gazing  at  the  picturesque  coast, 
with  its  hills,  headlands,  and  towns  sparkling  in  the 
sun,  or  watching  the  rippling  mackerel  as  they 
cruised  about  us,  or  occasionally  dipping  up  a  sun- 
squall,  of  which  vast  numbers  were  floating  by. 
Toward  noon  we  reached  Cape  Neddick,  or  rather, 
Cape  Neddick's  Nubble,  a  huge  and  high  rocky 
promontory  which  juts  far  out  into  the  sea,  and  is 
visible  from  a  great  distance.  We  sailed  close  by 
to  enable  the  Artist  to  make  a  sketch  of  it. 

About  an  hour  after  we  passed  Cape  Neddick, 
a  sudden  storm  of  wind  and  rain  rose  up  right 
ahead  of  us,  presenting  a  very  singular  appearance. 
We  were  sailing  in  the  most  brilliant  sunshine,  and 
straight  before  us  to  the  north,  at  the  distance  of  a 
mile,  the  air  was  filled  with  a  dense,  black,  scowl- 
ing cloud,  which  came  driving  down  upon  us  with 
fearful  velocity.  We  struck  our  mainsail,  and  the 
squall  swept  by,  deluging  us  with  rain,  and  causing 
the  little  sloop  to  shiver  and  reel  with  the  blow. 
We  were,  happily,  not  in  the  mid-path  of  the 
whirlwind  ;  but  I  suppose  touched  only  an  edge  of 


156  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

it.  Its  direction  was  toward  the  southwest,  and  it 
broke  with  fury  on  the  mainland.  On  the  sea,  the 
sky  soon  cleared  up,  and,  like  Barney  O'Reirdon, 
the  Irish  navigator,  we  kept  on  our  "  nor-aist 
coorse." 

At  6  P.  M.  we  were  near  Cape  Elizabeth,  and 
had  a  fine  view  of  the  White  Mountains  of  New 
Hampshire,  Mount  Washington  bearing  N.  W.  by 
N.  At  sunset,  off  Cape  Elizabeth,  it  fell  calm, 
and  we  lay  and  watched  the  lighthouses  and  the 
moon.  The  two  lights  looked  like  large  stars  near 
the  horizon,  and,  at  one  time,  formed  the  corners 
of  a  triangle  of  which  the  moon  was  the  apex. 

About  8  P.  M.  a  breeze  sprung  up  from  the 
northwest,  and  we  began  to  beat  up  into  Portland 
harbor  through  a  large  fleet  of  coasters  bound 
southward,  which  were  taking  advantage  of  the 
wind  to  come  out  to  sea.  The  tide  as  well  as  the 
wind  was  against  us,  and  it  was  not  till  3  o'clock 
the  next  morning  that  we  reached  a  safe  anchor- 
age, between  House  and  Peake's  Islands,  alongside 
of  a  revenue  cutter.  We  were  still  several  miles 
from  the  city,  and  were  glad  enough  to  turn  in 
and  get  some  sleep. 

At  daybreak  the  seamen  got  the  sloop  under 
way  without  disturbing  us,  and,  on  awaking  about 
breakfast  time,  we  found  the  Helen  moored  along- 
side of  a  wharf  at  Portland.  Discarding  our  sea- 
stained  shirts  and  trousers,  we  donned  our  best 
attire,  and  went  ashore,  to  spend  a  day  or  two  with 
our  friends  in  the  city. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       157 


CHAPTER   XX. 

CASCO  BAY.  — THE  POWER    OF   MELODY.  — THE  HAD- 
DOCK—JEWELL'S ISLAND 

No  July  morning  was  ever  finer  than  that  on 
which  we  bade  adieu  to  the  fair  city  of  Portland 
and  its  generous  hospitality,  and  turned  the  prow 
of  our  little  sloop  toward  the  nearest  of  the  count- 
less isles  of  Casco  Bay.  As  the  gentle  breeze 
swept  the  Helen  slowly  over  the  sparkling  waters, 
we  spread  on  the  top  of  the  cabin  the  ample  charts 
of  the  coast  of  Maine  with  which  our  good  friends 
in  Portland  had  provided  us,  and  fell  to  diligent 
study  of  our  proposed  route. 

Casco  Bay  extends  from  Cape  Elizabeth,  on  the 
west,  to  Cape  Small  Point,  on  the  east,  a  distance 
of  about  twenty  miles.  It  is  an  indentation  in  the 
coast  whose  greatest  depth  does  not  exceed  fifteen 
miles.  Beside  Portland,  at  its  western  end,  there 
are  three  or  four  nourishing  towns  on  the  shores 
of  the  bay,  —  and  embosomed  in  its  waters,  if  the 
popular  account  be  true,  are  no  less  than  three 
hundred  and  sixty-five  islands,  a  compliment  to 
the  days-  of  the  year  which  is  also  commonly  attrib- 
uted to  Lake  George,  Lake  Winnipiseogee,  and 
several  other  bodies  of  water.  Without  vouching 
for  the  exact  number,  it  is  doubtless  safe  to  say 


158  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

that  there  are  at  least  three  hundred  isles  and 
islets,  beside  many  bold  and  picturesque  headlands 
and  peninsulas,  so  that  scarcely  anywhere  else  in 
the  world  can  you  find  a  more  varied  or  more 
lovely  commingling  of  land  and  water. 

The  shores  of  the  islands  and  the  promontories 
are  mostly  covered  with  woods  of  maple,  oak, 
beech,  pine,  and  fir,  growing  nearly  to  the  water's 
edge,  and  throwing  their  shadows  over  many  a 
deep  inlet  and  winding  channel.  It  is  impossible 
to  conceive  of  any  combination  of  scenery  more 
charming,  more  romantic,  more  captivating  to  the 
eye,  or  more  suggestive  to  the  imagination.  No 
element  of  beauty  is  wanting.  Many  of  the  islands 
are  wildly  picturesque  in  form, — and  from  their 
woodland  summits  you  behold  on  the  one  hand  the 
surges  of  the  Atlantic,  breaking  almost  at  your 
feet,  and  on  the  other  the  placid  waters  of  the  bay, 
spangled  by  multitudinous  gems  of  emerald,  while 
in  the  dim  distance  you  discern  on  the  horizon  the 
sublime  peaks  of  the  White  Mountains. 

For  several  hours  we  sauntered,  rather  than 
sailed,  through  this  enchanted  and  enchanting 
fairy-land,  steering  now  hither  and  now  thither 
as  caprice  impelled,  or  as  the  perpetually-changing 
views  attracted.  At  length  the  Skipper,  whose 
taste  for  the  picturesque  was  yet  undeveloped,  and 
who  beside,  from  a  former  residence  of  many 
years  at  Harpswell,  on  the  northern  side  of  the 
bay,  was  sufficiently  familiar  with  its  beauties, 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       159 

began  to  intimate  that  it  was  time  to  think  of  din- 
ner, and  that  a  few  fresh  fish  would  lend  addi- 
tional grace  and  unction  to  that  important  cere- 
mony. So,  in  spite  of  the  protest  of  the  Artist,  — 
who  was  still  unsatiated  with  the  scenery,  —  the 
hint  was  taken,  and  we  anchored  in  deep  water, 
in  a  broad  channel  called  Hussey's  Sound.  The 
Pilot  kindled  his  fire  in  the  furnace  at  the  com- 
panion-way, and  we  baited  our  lines  and  began 
to  fish. 

"  Fish  being  more  distinguished  for  the  size  of 
their  heads  than  for  the  amount  of  brains  lodged 
in  them,"  observes  the  Rev.  David  Badham,  at  the 
beginning  of  his  erudite  and  entertaining  Prose 
Halieutics,  "fell  early  victims  to  the  crafts  and 
assaults  of  their  arch-enemy,  man." 

The  remark  of  the  learned  author  is  undoubt- 
edly founded  in  truth,  —  but  whether  it  was  that 
the  fish  of  Casco  Bay  are  gifted  with  more  brains 
than  the  rest  of  their  tribe,  or  that  they  were  natu- 
rally unwilling  to  quit  their  charming  dwelling- 
place,  certain  it  is  that,  in  our  case,  they  did  not 
fall  early  victims.  For  more  than  an  hour  we 
fished  without  a  bite.  We  suggested  to  the  Skip- 
per that  our  lines  were  not  cast  in  pleasant  places, 
and  that  we  had  better  shift  our  ground.  But  that 
worthy,  who  had  an  innate  repugnance  to  hoisting 
the  mainsail  oftener  than  he  was  fairly  obliged  to, 
held  for  some  moments  silent  and  mysterious  com- 
munion with  the  sky,  the  water,  and  the  neighbor- 


160  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

ing  shores,  and  then  confidently  predicted  that  the 
fish  would  soon  bite.  Having,  from  past  expe- 
rience, considerable  faith  in  his  penetration  into 
the  whims  and  ways  of  our  finny  friends,  and  sus- 
pecting that  in  this  instance  his  judgment  was 
based  upon  observation  of  the  state  of  the  tide,  we 
patiently  pursued  our  sport,  if  sport  it  could  be 
called. 

The  Assyrian,  who  was  prone  to  easy  postures, 
had  been  for  the  last  half-hour  Iving  on  his  back 
with  his  hands  clasped  on  the  top  of  his  head,  and 
his  feet,  about  which  he  had  fastened  his  line,  pro- 
truding over  the  low  rail  of  the  sloop.  He  now 
began  to  sing  a  song,  to  which  he  was  apt  to  have 
recourse  when  the  time  was  passing  heavily,  and 
he  was  too  lazy  to  make  much  exertion  of  intellect 
or  memory.  It  began :  — 

"  The  grasshopper  sat  on  the  sweet-potato  vine, 
Up  came  the  turkey-gobbler  and  yanked  him  off  behind." 

The  second  stanza,  intended  to  show  the  careless 
security  of  the  grasshopper,  was  next  sung  :  — 

"  The  grasshopper  sat  on  the  sweet-potato  vine, 
Up  came  the  turkey-gobbler  and  yanked  him  off  behind." 

Then  followed  the  third  stanza,  illustrating  the 
perfidy  of  the  turkey-gobbler :  — 

"  The  grasshopper  sat  on  the  sweet-potato  vine, 
Up  came  the  turkey-gobbler  and  yanked  him  off  behind." 

This  elegant  ditty,  whose  chief  merit  was  its 
capacity  for  indefinite  prolongation,  was  suddenly 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       161 

interrupted  by  a  bite  which  nearly  "yanked"  the 
minstrel  into  the  water.  He  rolled  over  and  scram- 
bled to  his  feet  with  remarkable  agility,  exclaiming, 
as  he  hauled  in  his  line,  "  A  halibut  at  last,  I 
think !  "  To  catch  a  halibut  had  been  for  some 
time  the  main  object  of  the  Assyrian's  ambition, 
and  the  farther  east  we  went  the  more  confident 
he  became  that  every  large  fish  he  hooked  would 
prove  to  be  the  coveted  prize.  I  observed,  how- 
ever, that  the  old  Pilot,  who  always  grew  excited 
at  the  prospect  of  halibut,  after  one  eager  glance 
at  the  line,  turned  with  indifference  to  his  furnace, 
on  which,  by  this  time,  he  had  a  large  iron  pot, 
bubbling  with  boiling  water,  all  ready  for  a  cod  or 
haddock,  or  even  for  a  pollack,  if  nothing  better 
could  be  got.  There  was  evidently  no  hope  of 
halibut  yet. 

The  capture  proved  to  be  a  skate,  —  a  flat,  broad, 
spiny,  brown-backed  monster,  with  a  dirty-white 
belly,  a  tail  like  a  monkey's,  and  a  spade-shaped 
snout  armed  with  powerful  teeth.  He  was  very 
large,  —  about  three  feet  in  length,  —  and  it  re- 
quired a  good  deal  of  careful  management  to  get 
him  aboard  without  breaking  the  stout  cod-line. 
The  creature  was  very  angry  at  the  liberty  we  had 
taken  with  its  person,  and  furiously  lashed  the  deck 
with  its  tail,  squeaking  and  writhing  in  a  droll 
manner. 

"  Behold  the  power  of  melody,"  said  the  Pro- 
fessor to  the  Assyrian.  "  It  was  your  singing  that 


162  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

brought  this  fellow  to  his  bait.  Sixteen  hundred 
years  ago,  Claudius  .JSlianus,  in  his  De  Animalium 
Natura,  affirmed  that  the  skate  had  musical  ears, 
and  could  be  attracted  and  entranced  by  concord 
of  sweet  sounds ;  and  I  believe  Aristotle  said  the 
same  thing  some  centuries  before  him." 

"  They  were  a  couple  of  ignorant  heathens,"  re- 
sponded Ninus,  a  little  vexed  about  his  worthless 
prize,  "and  would  believe  anything  but  the  Gos- 
pel. What  does  Perley  say,  or  Storer  ?  " 

"  Nothing  about  it. ,  But  Rondelet,  of  Montpel- 
ier,  the  greatest  of  French  ichthyologists,  who  was  a 
careful  and  accurate  observer,  and  had  uncommon 
facilities  for  investigating  the  habits  of  fishes,  makes 
the  same  statement.  Cuvier  cites  him  as  a  stand- 
ard authority  on  the  fishes  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean." 

"  Very  well,"  said  Ninus,  "  I  yield  the  point, 
and  admit  the  musical  ears,  though  I  suspect  it 
was  the  fresh  lobster  on  my  hook  that  attracted 
the  wretch,  and  not  the  song  of  the  grasshopper  on 
the  sweet-potato  vine.  But  in  future  I  shall  be 
careful  how  I  exercise  my  voice  while  we  are 
fishing." 

The  capture  of  the  skate  did  not  materially  im- 
prove our  prospect  of  dinner,  for  though  the  Pro- 
fessor proposed  to  cook  the  creature,  or  at  least  a 
portion  of  it,  the  Pilot  would  not  hear  of  such  an 
abomination.  In  vain  he  was  assured  that  it  was 
a  favorite  fish  in  the  markets  of  London,  Paris,  and 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       163 

Edinburgh  ;  in  vain  I  cited  to  him  the  Rev.  Bad- 
ham's  assertion  that  all  skate  is  eatable,  though  not 
all  equally  good  ;  in  vain  the  Professor  assured  him 
that  Galen,  in  his  treatise  on  aliments,  particularly 
recommends  the  flesh  of  the  skate  as  agreeable  in 
flavor  and  light  of  digestion.  His  objections  were 
immovable.  At  length  the  Assyrian,  who  had 
a  bad  habit  of  inventing  quotations,  recited  to  him 
an  imaginary  passage  of  Aristotle  about  the  obsti- 
nacy of  fishermen  with  regard  to  the  edible  qual- 
ities of  the  skate. 

"  Damn  Aristotle !  "  responded  the  old  fisher- 
man ;  "  don't  you  suppose  I  know  what  fish  are  fit 
to  eat  ?  "  and  with  the  aid  of  the  Skipper,  who  fully 
sympathized  in  his  repugnance,  which  indeed  is 
common  to  most  American  fishermen,  he  tossed 
the  monster  overboard,  and  seizing  a  line,  he  said 
he  would  soon  give  us  something  worth  cooking. 
Sure  enough,  in  a  few  minutes,  probably  because 
of  his  fresh  bait,  he  pulled  up  a  haddock  weighing 
about  seven  pounds,  as  we  judged  by  the  eye,  for 
we  were  too  anxious  for  dinner  to  delay  his  trans- 
fer to  the  pot  by  putting  him  to  the  test  of  the 
steelyards.  While  he  is  being  boiled,  and  the 
Skipper  is  setting  the  table,  let  me  give  some  ac- 
count of  the  haddock. 

It  belongs  to  the  same  family  as  the  cod.  A 
jet-black  lateral  line  runs  from  the  head  to  the 
tail,  and  above  this  line  the  color  of  the  fish  is  a 
dark  gray,  and  beneath  it  a  beautiful  silvery  gray. 


164  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

Purple  and  gold  gleams  are  visible  on  the  back 
and  sides,  but  disappear  soon  after  the  fish  dies. 
The  body  is  stout  forward  and  tapers  to  the  tail. 
The  head  is  large  and  arched,  the  eyes  large,  and 
the  lower  jaw  shorter  than  the  upper.  On  jeach 
side  of  the  fish,  behind  the  gills,  there  is  a  dark 
spot ;  and  this  peculiarity  has  led  the  fishermen  of 
Catholic  countries  to  believe  that  the  haddock  is 
the  fish  from  whose  mouth  St.  Peter,  at  the  com- 
mand of  Christ,  took  the  tribute-money,  these 
spots  being  supposed  to  be  the  marks  made  by  the 
apostle's  thumb  and  finger  as  he  held  it.  It  is 
found  everywhere  on  the  American  coast  north  of 
New  York.  On  the  coast  of  New  England  it  ap- 
pears in  the  spring  in  immense  schools,  which 
continue  till  the  autumn,  though  many  remain 
through  the  winter.  In  summer  the  catch  of  had- 
dock in  Massachusetts  Bay  is  about  twelve  times 
as  great  as  that  of  cod,  but  in  winter  these  propor- 
tions are  exactly  reversed.  In  fact,  the  haddock  is 
so  plentiful  in  the  New  England  fish-markets  in 
the  summer,  that,  though  it  is  one  of  the  best  of  its 
tribe  for  the  table,  it  brings  the  lowest  price,  a 
fish  weighing  several  pounds  being  often  sold  for 
a  cent,  and  myriads  being  used  for  manure.  It 
swarms  on  the  coasts  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
particularly  on  the  east  coasts,  swimming  in  large 
schools,  which  appear  in  certain  localities  nearly 
at  the  same  time  in  different  years,  arriving  on 
the  Yorkshire  coast,  for  example,  about  the  10th 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.      165 

of  December.  The  school  in  that  quarter,  on  its 
first  arrival,  has  been  seen  to  extend  from  Flam- 
borough  Head  to  the  mouth  of  the  Tyne  below 
Newcastle,  a  distance  of  eighty  miles  in  length, 
with  a  breadth  of  three  miles.  The  fishermen  at 
these  times  catch  them  in  such  quantities  that 
they  sell  them  at  the  rate  of  two  or  three  for  a 
penny.  They  are  taken  with  hand-lines,  in  the 
same  manner  as  cod.  In  stormy  weather  they 
refuse  the  bait,  and  take  refuge  in  deep  water  till 
the  commotion  has  subsided. 

The  haddock  is  found  far  north,  in  the  Green- 
land Seas,  but  has  never  been  seen  in  the  Baltic 
nor  in  the  Mediterranean.  It  is  singular  that  the 
mark  of  St.  Peter's  thumb,  which  is  never  wanting 
in  the  specimens  taken  in  British  waters,  nor,  so 
far  as  I  know,  in  those  taken  on  the  coasts  of  New 
England,  is  not  found  in  the  haddock  of  the  Arc- 
tic Seas.  At  least  Fabricius,  the  naturalist,  who 
observed  the  fish  on  the  coast  of  Greenland,  did 
not  find  one  with  these  marks,  out  of  the  many  he 
examined,  and  neither  Artedi  nor  Linnasus,  in 
their  description  of  Scandinavian  haddock,  makes 
any  mention  of  the  spots.  The  French  fishermen 
call  the  haddock  hadot,  from  which  it  is  probable 
that  the  English  name  is  derived. 

As  cooked  by  the  Pilot,  we  pronounced  the 
haddock  excellent ;  and  after  dinner  we  raised  the 
anchor,  hoisted  sail,  and  cruised  idly  about  among 
the  islands  till  near  sunset,  when  we  put  into  a 


166  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

delicious  little  cove,  narrow,  deep,  and  shady,  on 
Jewell's  Island.  As  we  glided  in,  an  old  fisher- 
man who  resided  on  the  island  came  alongside  in 
his  dory  to  have  a  little  chat,  and  gave  us  a  mag- 
nificent lobster,  which  went  immediately  into  the 
pot  for  supper.  After  coming  to  anchor,  we  all 
went  ashore  in  our  boat,  except  the  Pilot,  who 
was  detained  on  board  by  his  duties  as  cook,  to 
explore  the  island,  witness  the  sunset,  and  get 
milk,  eggs,  and  butter  from  a  farm-house  near  our 
landing-place. 

The  island,  which  lies  about  ten  miles  east  of 
Portland,  is  large  enough  for  a  German  principal- 
ity, and  seemed  to  be  fertile  and  well  cultivated. 
The  farm-house  was  built  on  elevated  ground,  and 
the  view  of  the  sunset  and  of  the  island-studded 
bay  was  superb.  Fresh  and  sweet  were  the  eggs 
and  milk  and  butter  with  which  we  returned  to 
our  sloop  as  the  twilight  died  away,  and  very  jolly 
the  supper  we  had  in  the  little  cabin  before  turn- 
ing in  to  our  berths.  The  evening  was  pleasantly 
cool,  and  the  Assyrian,  who  was  naturally  of  a 
medical  turn  of  mind,  remarking  that  boiled  lob- 
ster was  not  wholesome  unless  well  qualified  with 
something  acid,  availed  himself  of  the  Pilot's 
steaming  teakettle,  and  brewed  a  pitcher  of  hot 
lemonade  with  a  strong  infusion  of  whiskey,  which 
he  administered  to  each  of  us,  in  proper  doses,  as 
a  sure  preventive  against  any  ill  effects  from  our 
supper. 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       167 
CHAPTER    XXI. 

TO  HABPSWELL  POINT.— ON  A  REEF.  — A  COLD  BATH. 

THE  next  morning,  Wednesday,  was  fair  and 
warm,  and  we  rose  early,  and,  after  breakfasting 
on  rock-cod  and  blue-perch,  which  the  Artist,  who 
was  up  first,  caught  alongside,  while  the  Pilot  was 
making  his  fire,  we  resumed  our  cruise  among  the 
islands.  We  skirted  the  shores  of  one  of  the  larg- 
est of  these,  the  Great  Jebeig,  and  landed  on  its 
neighbor,  the  Little  Jebeig,  around  which  we 
walked,  picking  up  shells  on  its  beaches,  and  ex- 
ploring caverns  in  its  rocks.  Toward  noon  the 
wind  freshened,  and,  blowing  fair  and  strong  for 
Harpswell  Point,  we  stretched  across  a  broad  ex- 
panse of  the  bay  for  that  place,  which  the  Skipper, 
who  had  formerly  resided  there,  said  was  more 
beautiful  than  anything  we  had  yet  seen.  We 
were  running  along  pretty  rapidly,  when  the  Skip- 
per, who  had  the  helm,  began  to  show  symptoms 
of  uneasiness.  It  was  so  many  years,  he  said,  since 
he  had  sailed  these  waters,  that  he  was  not  quite 
sure  of  his  course,  —  there  were  a  good  many 
sunken  reefs  in  this  part  of  the  bay. 

The  Professor  brought  out  the  Coast  Survey 
chart,  and  he  and  I  attempted  to  spread  it  on  the 
top  of  the  cabin ;  but  the  wind  blowing  too  hard 


168  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

for  that,  we  carried  it  below,  and  spread  it  on  the 
cabin  table.  We  had  just  begun  to  examine  it, 
when  my  attention  was  arrested  by  a  strange 
grinding  and  pounding  sound  apparently  just  be- 
neath my  feet,  under  the  cabin  floor.  I  had  never 
heard  anything  like  it,  and  had  not  the  least  sus- 
picion of  its  cause.  I  glanced  inquiringly  at  the 
Professor,  who  turned  pale  and  darted  on  deck. 
He  had  heard  that  sound  once  before,  while  cruis- 
ing on  the  coast  of  Japan,  and  under  circum- 
stances not  likely  to  make  him  forgetful  of  its 
meaning. 

I  followed  him  to  the  deck.  The  Skipper  stood 
with  the  helm  yet  in  his  hand,  looking  sheepish 
enough  at  the  result  of  his  pilotage.  The  As- 
syrian and  the  Artist  were  staring  wildly  about 
them,  while  the  prompt  old  Pilot,  though  so  sud- 
denly roused  from  a  nap  he  had  been  taking  on 
the  shady  side  of  the  deck,  had  already  let  go  the 
jib,  and  was  lowering  the  mainsail.  Our  vessel  had 
run  her  length  on  to  a  reef  about  five  feet  below 
the  surface,  and  was  stuck  fast  about  a  mile  from 
land.  Fortunately  the  tide  was  rising,  and  in  the 
course  of  an  hour,  by  carrying  out  an  anchor 
astern,  and  hauling  with  all  our  strength,  we  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  her  off  without  any  other  dam- 
age, as  we  subsequently  ascertained,  than  the  loss 
of  a  part  of  her  keel.  Stationing  the  Assyrian 
and  the  Artist  at  the  bow,  with  instructions  to 
keep  a  sharp  lookout  for  rocks,  we  ran  a  few  miles 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       169 

farther,  and,  entering  the  heart-shaped  bay  at  the 
end  of  Harpswell  Point,  anchored  in  deep  water, 
not  far  from  its  eastern  shore. 

As  the  Skipper  said  that  this  was  a  good  place 
for  fish,  we  got  out  our  lines  while  the  Pilot  was 
getting 'dinner.  Before  we  had  caught  anything 
the  meal  was  ready,  and  we  went  below,  leaving 
our  lines  in  the  water,  in  hopes  of  finding  that 
some  fish  had  been  foolish  enough  to  hook  himself 
during  our  absence. 

It  so  happened  that  I  was  first  on  deck  after 
dinner.  I  tried  the  lines,  but  found  nothing 
caught.  The  Assyrian's  line  was  over  the  stern, 
and,  as  the  tide  was  running  very  fast,  he  had  let 
it  out  to  its  whole  length  of  several  hundred  feet. 
I  hauled  it  in  to  see  that  it  was  still  baited,  and  as 
no  one  had  yet  followed  me  out  of  the  cabin,  I  was 
enticed  by  the  opportunity  to  play  the  Assyrian  a 
trick.  A  huge  stone  jug  weighing  many  pounds, 
and  capable  of  holding  several  gallons,  stood  near 
me  on  the  deck  empty.  It  was  our  principal 
water  jug,  and  the  Skipper  had  placed  it  there  to 
have  it  handy,  intending  to  take  it  ashore  and  fill 
it  after  he  had  cleared  away  the  dinner  things. 
The  temptation  was  irresistible.  I  quickly  tied 
the  end  of  my  friend's  line  to  the  handle  of  the 
jug,  and  lowered  it  overboard.  The  strong  tide 
swept  it  far  along  until  it  had  gurgled  full  of  water, 
when  of  course  it  sank  plumb.  I  returned  to  my 
own  line,  and  presently  caught  a  large  cod,  the 

8 


170  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

sound  of  whose  flapping  on  deck  brought  out  my 
comrades  with  the  exception  of  the  Skipper,  who 
remained  to  put  the  cabin  to  rights  a  little. 

The  Assyrian,  cigar  in  mouth,  sat  down  on  the 
tafrrail,  and  gently  fingered  his  line  with  the  air 
of  a  man  who  has  had  a  satisfactory  dinner,  and 
does  not  yet  care  to  exert  himself  to  catch  fish  for 
supper.  Presently,  however,  he  had  a  bite,  and 
began  languidly  to  pull  up  his  line.  The  unusual 
weight  soon  made  itself  felt.  The  Assyrian  grew 
suddenly  excited.  He  said  nothing  about  halibut, 
for  previous  disappointments  had  made  him  reticent 
of  expression  on  that  point,  but  halibut  was  evi- 
dently in  his  mind,  by  the  gingerly  way  in  which 
he  handled  his  line,  holding  it  in  readiness  to  yield 
judiciously  in  case  the  monster  should  suddenly 
put  forth  his  strength.  We  gathered  round  to 
witness  the  struggle.  The  gentleman  from  Nine- 
veh tugged  and  tugged,  growing  gradually  more 
and  more  astonished  at  the  weight  of  his  capture, 
and  the  passive  nature  of  his  resistance,  for  the 
halibut,  as  the  fishermen  often  told  us,  never 
yields  without  a  desperate  and  powerful  contest. 
At  length  his  prize  reached  the  surface.  Without 
remark  the  Assyrian  quietly  lifted  it  on  board, 
amid  roars  of  laughter,  and  as  he  passed  into  the 
cabin  to  relight  his  cigar,  good-humoredly  nodded 
to  me,  saying,  — 

"  I  '11  pay  you  for  that,  my  boy,  before  you  are 
much  older."  He  kept  his  word. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       171 

By  and  by  the  Skipper  put  the  jug  into  the 
boat,  and  the  Assyrian  and  I  went  ashore  with 
him  to  a  fisherman's  cottage,  the  only  house  in 
sight.  I  had  been  struck,  as  I  saw  it  from  the 
deck  of  the  sloop,  with  the  singular  beauty  of  the 
place,  and  its  resemblance  to  the  abode  of  the  fish- 
erman in  Undine. 

"  He1  dwelt  in  a  very  beautiful  spot.  The 
grassy  land  on  which  his  cottage  was  built  ex- 
tended far  out  into  a  great  lake  ;  and  it  seemed  as 
if  out  of  love,  this  slip  of  ground  stretched  itself 
into  the  clear,  blue,  and  wonderfully  bright  waters, 
and  also  as  if  the  waters,  with  loving  arms,  clasped 
the  fair  meadows  with  their  high-waving  grass  and 
flowers,  and  the  refreshing  shade  of  the  trees. 
Yet  was  this  pleasant  place  seldom  or  never  trod- 
den by  any  but  the  fisherman  and  his  household, 
for  behind  the  slip  of  land  lay  a  very  wild 
wood  —  " 

No  description  could  be  more  exact.  Here,  be- 
fore our  eyes,  was  the  solitary  cottage,  the  grassy 
point  of  land,  the  clear,  blue,  bright  waters,  the 
refreshing  shade  of  trees,  and  behind  the  house 
the  identical  wild  wood  that  separated  the  dwell- 
ing of  Undine's  foster-father  from  the  rest  of  the 
world.  Surely  La  Motte  Fouqud  must  have  seen 
Harpswell  Point  in  a  vision  or  dream.  The  only 
differences  between  the  two  places  were,  that  in- 
stead of  a  great  lake  there  was  a  great  bay,  and 
that  the  surges  of  the  Atlantic  were  rolling  on  the 


172  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

other  side  of  the  strip  of  land  ;  but  these  were  not 
material. 

The  men  of  the  fisherman's  family  were  away, 
but  there  were  several  women  at  the  house,  who 
received  us  kindly,  and  gave  us  milk  and  berries. 
The  Assyrian  speedily  made  himself  at  home  with 
the  ladies,  —  and  when  I  proposed  to  go  to  the 
beach,  about  two  hundred  yards  from  the  house,  to 
take  an  ocean  bath,  he  refused  to  accompany  me, 
but  offered  to  wait  where  he  was  till  I  came  back. 
The  Skipper  had  gone  to  his  sloop  with  his  jug  of 
water,  to  invite  the  Artist  and  Professor  on  shore 
to  partake  also  of  milk  and  berries.  So  I  went 
alone  to  the  sea,  and  strolled  along  the  beach  till  I 
came  to  a  convenient  pile  of  rocks,  out  of  sight  of 
the  house,  and  took  off  my  clothes,  and  went  in. 

The  water  was  awfully  cold,  though  the  air  was 
warm,  —  and  being  unable  to  swim,  and  so  not 
daring  to  plunge  boldly,  I  endured  fearful  torture 
in  the  heroic  efforts  to  get  a  thorough  bath.  A  few 
rods  farther  along  from  where  I  went  in,  there  was 
a  large  rock  almost  covered  by  the  water,  to  which 
I  determined  to  go,  calculating  that  by  the  time  I 
could  reach  it,  and  return,  I  should  have  had  as 
much  sea-bathing  as  it  was  desirable,  or,  for  me, 
possible  to  endure. 

I  reached  it  easily  enough,  and  after  clinging  to 
it  for  a  moment  thoroughly  chilled,  turned  to  go 
to  the  shore. 

Conceive  my  consternation  at  beholding,  as  I 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.      173 

looked  around,  a  woman  approaching  along  the 
beach  from  the  direction  of  the  house.  A  tall, 
elderly  female,  wearing  a  veil,  and  carrying  a  para- 
sol. Evidently  she  was  bent  on  a  sea-side  stroll. 
She  must  have  seen  me  if  she  had  looked  in  my 
direction,  for  the  distance  that  separated  us  was 
inconsiderable.  But  she  walked  with  her  eyes 
cast  clown,  either  wrapt  in  thought,  or  searching 
for  shells  and  pebbles,  I  could  not  determine  which. 
Nor  did  it  much  matter.  I  was  nearly  dead  with 
cold,  but  of  course  could  not  quit  the  shelter  of 
the  water  while  the  lady  was  in  sight.  If  she  only» 
kept  onward,  however  slowly,  I  thought  I  could 
hold  out,  for,  thank  Heaven !  there  was  a  rocky 
point  at  no  great  distance  which  would  conceal 
her,  or  rather  me,  from  view  as  soon  as  she  should 
pass  it.  So  I  crouched  behind  the  rock  to  which  I 
was  clinging,  shuddering  with  anguish  as  the  chill 
waves  rolled  in  succession  over  me. 

The  lady  was  provokingly  slow.  She  lingered, 
she  stopped,  she  stooped  to  examine  every  shell 
and  every  pebble.  I  grew  almost  frantic  with  suf- 
fering, and  was  twenty  times  on  the  point  of  cry- 
ing out,  and  warning  her  off.  Still,  I  trusted  she 
would  pass  without  seeing  me,  and  thought  I  could 
endure  a  little  longer. 

At  length  she  reached  the  rocks,  among  which  I 
had  deposited  my  clothes.  She  did  not  notice  the 
garments  apparently,  but,  after  pausing  for  a  min- 
ute, coolly  sat  down,  and,  to  my  horror  and  de- 


174  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

spair,  pulled  a  book  from  under  her  shawl,  and 
began  to  read. 

I  could  stand  it  no  longer.  All  the  tales  I  had 
ever  heard  of  persons  who  had  died  from  staying 
too  long  in  the  water  rushed  upon  my  memory. 
I  felt  convinced  that  I  was  not  only  blue  around 
the  mouth,  but  blue  all  over.  It  seemed  as  if  I 
had  been  in  the  water  at  least  two  hours.  I  should 
certainly  die.  But  death  itself  was  preferable  to 
this  infernal  ..cold,  which  caused  my  very  bones  to 
ache.  Positively  I  could  stand  it  no  longer. 

I  began  by  coughing,  gently  at  first,  afterward 
more  vigorously.  It  did  no  good.  She  was  ab- 
sorbed in  her  book,  some  foolish  novel,  doubt- 
less, —  confound  the  author !  I  hemmed,  hawed, 
hooted. 

I  splashed  the  water.  All  to  no  effect.  A  hor- 
rible thought  flashed  across  me :  perhaps  she  was 
deaf,  —  as  deaf  as  Dame  Eleanor  Spearing.  I  tried 
to  get  a  stone  from  the  bottom  to  throw  at  her,  or 
rather  near  her,  in  hopes  of  attracting  her  atten- 
tion, but  found  I  could  not  reach  bottom  without 
putting  my  head  under  water.  It  suddenly  oc- 
curred to  me  that  the  tide  was  rising,  and  that  my 
post  would  no  longer  be  tenable  even  if  I  could 
stand  the  cold.  That  settled  the  question. 

"  Hallo  !  hallo  there  !  "  I  shouted,  with  all  the 
force  of  my  lungs. 

"  Hallo,  yourself !  What  are  you  making  such 
a  row  for  ?  Are  n't  you  ashamed  to  yell  at  a  lady 
in  that  way  ?  " 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       175 

I  recognized  the  voice  at  the  first  word,  and  was 
beside  the  speaker  before  the  sentence  was  fin- 
ished. Throwing  up  the  veil,  which  had  concealed 
his  features,  the  Assyrian  burst  into  a  laugh,  in 
which,  though  at  first  I  thought  of  stoning  him, 
I  finally  joined.  He  had  persuaded  the  women  at 
the  cottage  to  lend  him  his  disguise,  in  order  to 
repay  me,  as  he  had  promised,  for  the  affair  of  the 
jug.  I  forgave  him  for  the  sake  of  the  provoca- 
tion, though  he  had  put  me  to  direful  torture,  — 
but  we  entered  then  and  there  into  a  compact  to 
desist  from  such  pranks  for  the  future. 

A  smart  run  on  the  beach  in  the  warm  air  re- 
lieved me  of  the  chill  I  had  got  in  the  water,  — 
and  being  soon  after  joined  by  the  Professor  and 
the  Artist,  we  rambled  till  sunset  amid  the  groves 
and  glades  and  rocks  and  beaches  of  the  peninsula, 
which  we  all  agreed  far  surpassed  Nahant  in  beauty, 
while  it  almost  exactly  resembled  it  in  situation. 
The  sunset,  as  we  watched  it  from  a  lofty  bank, 
crowned  with  noble  trees,  was  glorious.  Our  view 
extended  over  Casco  Bay  to  the  mainland  beyond, 
and,  farther  still,  to  the  White  Mountains,  of  which 
we  had  never  from  any  point  obtained  a  more 
beautiful  or  more  impressive  view. 

We  lingered  long  after  Mount  Washington  had 
vanished  in  the  gloom  of  twilight,  and  then,  de- 
scending to  the  shore,  assented  fully  to  the  patri- 
otic remark  of  the  Skipper,  as  he  rowed  us  to  the 
sloop,  that  "  There  was  n't  a  finer  place  in  the 
world  than  Harps  well." 


176  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

SUCCESSFUL  FISHING.  —  WHITING,  HAKE,  AND  COD.— 
A  CHOWDER-PARTY. 

THE  next  morning,  when  I  came  out  of  the 
little  cabin  of  the  sloop,  the  sky  was  gray  with  the 
faint  light  of  dawn,  and  a  few  of  the  largest  stars 
were  yet  visible.  The  air  was  fresh  and  fragrant, 
and  the  water  of  the  bay  looked  singularly  cool 
and  clear,  as  it  swayed  and  eddied  with  the  rush- 
ing of  the  tide.  The  distant  isles  seemed  shadowy 
and  spectral  in  the  morning  mist,  and  from  the 
groves  on  the  Point  came  the  twitter  of  land-birds, 
occasionally  breaking  into  song  ;  while  overhead 
a  couple  of  large  sea-birds  were  slowly  wheeling 
in  eccentric  orbit,  as  they  scanned  the  depths  in 
search  of  prey. 

"  I  stood, 
And  watched  the  pulses  of  the  tide, 

The  huge  hlack  rocks,  the  sea-weeds  brown, 
The  gray  beach  stretched  on  either  side. 
A  cool  light  brooded  o'er  the  land  ; 

A  changing  lustre  lit  the  bay ; 
The  tide  just  plashed  along  the  sand, 

And  voices  sounded  far  away." 

Presently  the  old  Pilot  came  on  deck,  and,  as 
he  filled  and  lighted  his  pipe,  he  scrutinized  the 
sky,  and  said  we  should  have  a  hot  day.  He  then 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       177 

began  his  preparations  for  breakfast,  and,  after  call- 
ing my  comrades  to  come  on  deck  and  see  the  sun 
rise,  I  fished  from  the  side  of  our  vessel,  and  soon 
caught  flounders  and  cod  sufficient  for  our  morning 
meal.  After  that  was  despatched,  we  went  ashore 
for  a  farewell  look  at  Harpswell  Point  and  its  ro- 
mantic groves  of  pine  and  cedar,  and  its  stately 
oaks  and  maples.  On  returning  to  the  sloop,  we 
made  sail,  and  were  soon  gliding  slowly  onward 
with  a  gentle  breeze  that  scarcely  ruffled  the  water. 
At  the  end  of  an  hour,  the  breeze,  faint  as  it  was, 
grew  fainter  still,  and  we  came  to  anchor  in  a 
channel,  where  we  had  in  every  direction  charm- 
ing views  through  long  and  liquid  vistas  edged 
with  green  islands.  It  was  also,  the  Skipper  said, 
a  famous  place  for  fish. 

We  got  out  our  lines  and  had  good  luck,  catch- 
ing cod  and  haddock  in  abundance,  and  also,  in 
lesser  quantity,  whiting  and  hake.  The  whiting 
were  small,  none  of  them  more  than  a  foot  in 
length.  According  to  Dr.  Storer's  Report  on  the 
Fishes  of  Massachusetts,  that  which  our  fishermen 
call  the  whiting  is  really  the  European  hake  ;  and 
that  which  they  call  the  hake  is  really  the  English 
codling.  This  statement  is  correct  as  far  as  it 
goes,  but  yet  the  real  whiting  is  found  in  Ameri- 
can waters  and  on  the  coast  of  New  England, 
though  perhaps  not  as  far  south  as  Massachusetts. 
Those  that  we  now  caught  were  the  genuine  whit- 
ing, a  handsome  fish,  elegantly  formed,  the  head 


178  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

and  upper  part  of  the  body  of  a  lead  color,  and  the 
sides  and  belly  white.  When  perfectly  fresh  it  is 
very  sweet  and  palatable,  the  most  delicate,  in- 
deed, of  our  sea  fishes,  but  its  softness  will  not 
admit  of  its  being  kept  long.  It  prefers  a  sandy 
bottom,  and  generally  swims  in  schools  a  few  miles 
from  the  shore.  Its  principal  food  is  the  fry  of 
other  fishes,  but  it  is  extremely  voracious,  and 
devours  almost  any  kind  of  small  shell-fish.  It 
reaches  sometimes  the  weight  of  four  pounds.  At 
Grand  Manan  it  is  very  abundant  and  is  there 
called  the  silver  hake. 

The  hake  is  much  larger  than  the  whiting,  and 
varies  in  size  from  three  pounds  to  thirty.  One 
of  those  that  we  captured  weighed  twelve  pounds, 
and  was  upward  of  three  feet  in  length.  The  up- 
per part  of  the  fish  is  of  a  grayish  brown  ;  the 
lower  part  is  somewhat  lighter.  Great  quantities 
of  hake  are  taken  in  Massachusetts  Bay  during 
the  summer.  They  are  caught  with  the  hook  on 
muddy  bottoms,  and  bite  best  at  night.  Some- 
times a  single  fisherman,  after  spending  the  night 
in  "  haking,"  as  they  call  it,  will  come  home  in 
the  morning  with  a  boat-load  exceeding  a  ton  in 
weight.  When  salted  and  prepared  for  market, 
the  hake  is  called  stockfish.  Those  taken  off  Cape 
Cod  are  said  to  be  the  best.  In  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence  and  Bay  of  Chaleur,  this  fish  is  called 
the  ling. 

The  cod  is  so  well  known  that  any  description 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       179 

of  it  will  seein  superfluous,  and  yet  there  must  be 
millions  of  persons  in  the  interior  of  the  United 
States  to  whom  the  fish  is  an  utter  stranger,  ex- 
cept in  its  dried  and  salted  condition.  For  such 
readers,  I  will  say  that  it  has  a  long,  smooth,  and 
well-shaped  body  ;  the  back  is  of  a  light  olive- 
green  color,  with  numerous  reddish  or  yellowish 
spots  ;  the  belly  is  dusky  white.  The  color,  how- 
ever, of  some  individuals  is  a  beautiful  bright  red, 
while  others  are  of  a  lemon  yellow,  and  others 
again  will  be  found  entirely  gray,  without  spots. 
The  general  run  of  cod  are  about  two  feet  in 
length,  and  weigh  three  or  four  pounds,  though 
the  fish  sometimes  grows  to  great  size.  In  1807, 
one  was  captured  at  New-Ledge,  about  fifty  miles 
from  where  we  were  now  fishing,  which  weighed 
one  hundred  and  seven  pounds.  The  English  spe- 
cies, which  varies  very  little  in  appearance  from 
the  American,  does  not  seem  to  attain  so  great  a 
size,  for  Yarrell,  in  his  account  of  British  fishes,  says 
that  the  largest  cod  of  which  he  had  ever  heard 
weighed  sixty  pounds.  A  later  writer,  Dr.  Ham- 
ilton, mentions  one  that  weighed  seventy-eight 
pounds,  and  was  upward  of  six  feet  in  length. 
Mr.  Perley  says  that  the  largest  brought  into  Hal- 
ifax market,  in  1851,  weighed  eighty-six  pounds. 

These  fish  generally  dwell  in  water  from  twenty 
to  fifty  fathoms  deep,  though  sometimes  the  attrac- 
tion of  a  plentiful  supply  of  food  will  bring  them 
to  shallow  places.  They  are  voracious,  and  will 


180  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

eat  any  of  the  smaller  inhabitants  of  the  ocean. 
They  devour  large  quantities  of  mollusca  and 
Crustacea.  In  fact,  the  cod  is  the  great  collector 
of  deep-sea  shells  for  the  naturalists,  many  of  the 
rarest  specimens  having  been  obtained  from  his 
stomach. 

The  cod  is  unknown  in  the  Mediterranean,  but 
it  swarms  in  the  Atlantic  north  of  latitude  40°, 
becoming  more  abundant  and  larger  in  size  as  you 
go  toward  the  Arctic  Seas.  Immense  quantities 
are  caught  on  the  coasts  of  Norway,  and  on  those 
of  Greenland,  but  the  great  cod-fishing  ground  of 
the  world  is  the  banks  of  Newfoundland.  They 
seek  their  food  near  the  bottom,  and  are  therefore 
always  taken  with  lines,  and  not  with  nets.  They 
will  bite  at  almost  any  bait,  but  our  fishermen  gen- 
erally tempt  .them  with  clams. 

The  cod-fishery  of  the  United  States  employs 
two  thousand  vessels,  and  about  ten  thousand  men, 
and  is  carried  on  almost  exclusively  from  New 
England.  The  vessels  generally  used  are  schoon- 
ers of  about  eighty  tons  burden.  About  thirty  mil- 
lions of  fish  are  annually  taken,  and  their  value, 
when  dried  and  salted,  is  $  2,000,000.  The  French 
cod-fishery  at  Newfoundland  is  as  productive  as  the 
American,  and  employs  about  as  many  men,  but 
the  vessels  used  are  generally  three  times  as  large, 
and  consequently  fewer  in  number. 

Our  fishing  was  at  length  interrupted  by  a  cir- 
cumstance in  itself  indicative  of  success  :  we  had 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       181 

used  up  all  our  bait.  The  Pilot,  in  whom  our 
unusual  luck  seemed  to  have  aroused  his  dormant 
love  of  the  pursuit  to  which  he  had  devoted  so 
many  years,  seizing  a  spade  and  bucket,  jumped 
into  the  dory,  into  which  I  followed  him,  and 
rowed  to  the  nearest  island.  We  walked  across 
a  cornfield  to  the  other  side,  where  a  broad,  muddy 
shore  spread  its  blackness  before  us,  —  the  tide 
having  left  it  bare  and  weltering  for  many^  rood. 
There  were  no  traces  to  my  eyes  of  clams,  —  and, 
in  fact,  nothing  was  visible  but  black  mud,  mixed 
with  sand  enough  to  make  it  sufficiently  firm  to 
bear  our  footsteps.  But  the  Pilot  at  a  glance 
selected  a  spot  where,  on  digging,  we  disclosed  a 
bed  of  happy  mollusks,  — "  Happy  as  a  clam " 
being  a  proverb  on  the  coast. 

While  he  was  filling  the  bucket  I  climbed  over 
a  huge  rock  that  bounded  on  one  side  the  cove 
of  the  clams,  and  found  beyond  it  a  beautiful 
gravel  beach,  where  I  was  soon  busily  engaged  in 
picking  up  shells  of  a  brilliant  yellow  color.  By 
the  time  I  had  filled  my  hat  with  these,  the  Pilot 
had  obtained  sufficient  bait,  and,  recalled  by  his 
shout,  I  rejoined  him,  and  we  returned  to  the 
sloop,  where  the  fishing  was  resumed  with  such 
luck  that  by  dinner  time  we  had  captured  more 
than  a  hundred  fish  of  a  large  size. 

We  now  thought  it  time  to  stop.  The  Pilot 
overhauled  our  pile,  and  as  he  handled  each  fish  in 
its  turn,  he  put  some  aside  on  the  deck  for  preser- 


182  A  SUMMER    CRUISE   ON 

vation,  and  others  he  threw  overboard.  Notwith- 
standing this  sifting  out,  enough  remained  to  more 
than  supply  our  wants  for  several  days,  —  and  the 
Skipper  said  that  after  dinner  he  would  salt  them 
for  use  in  case  we  caught  nothing  on  the  mor- 
row. 

A  brilliant  idea  suddenly  struck  the  Assyrian  as 
he  was  wiping  his  face  after  washing  it,  on  the  top 
of  the  cabin. 

"  I  say,"  he  exclaimed,  looking  round  with  a 
countenance  glowing  partly  with  the  rubbing  he 
had  given  it,  and  partly  with  delight  at  the  new 
idea,  "  let  us  have  a  chowder." 

It  was  an  inspiration.  "  A  chowder,"  we  echoed 
simultaneously ;  "  why  did  n't  we  think  of  it  be- 
fore ?  " 

"  Captain,"  said  the  Professor  to  the  Pilot,  "  can 
you  make  a  chowder  ?  " 

The  old  man  had  just  lighted  the  chips  in  his 
furnace,  and  was  down  on  his  knees  blowing  them 
into  a  flame.  He  looked  up,  with  a  strong  degree 
of  scorn  depicted  on  his  honest  face. 

"  Can  I  make  a  chowder?  "  he  repeated ;  "well, 
I  should  think  I  could ;  I  've  made  more  'n  forty 
thousand." 

The  Professor,  who  had  a  rapid  mathematical 
mind,  remarked  that  that  large  figure  must  be  only 
a  figure  of  speech,  for  to  make  forty  thousand 
chowders  in  sixty  years  would  require  an  average 
of  two  a  day. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       183 

"  Well,  well,"  said  the  old  man,  "  I  did  n't  mean 
forty  thousand  exactly.  I  never  kept  count  on 
'em  ;  but  I  've  made  a  great  many,  —  and  if  you 
like,  I  '11  give  you  as  good  a  one  as  Daniel  Webster 
himself  ever  turned  out." 

He  went  to  work,  and  as  we  had  salt  pork,  pota- 
toes, and  onions  on  board,  and  plenty  of  "  hard 
tack,"  or  crackers,  in  less  than  an  hour  we  were 
sitting  in  front  of  as  fine  a  chowder  as  one  could 
wish  to  eat.  Our  morning  sport  had  given  us 
good  appetites,  and  the  chowder  rapidly  vanished, 
much  to  the  delight  of  the  concoctor  thereof,  who 
was  not  a  little  proud  of  our  appreciation  of  his 
culinary  skill.  We  had  lighted  our  cigars,  and 
the  Assyrian  was  brewing  a  mighty  pitcher  of  what 
he  persisted  in  calling  lemonade,  especially  since 
we  had  got  within  the  bounds  of  the  State  of 
Maine,  when  suddenly  we  heard  a  shout. 

"  Sloop  ahoy  !  "  We  went  on  deck.  A  yacht, 
crowded  with  ladies  and  gentlemen,  was  lying 
within  hailing  distance. 

"Have  you  got  any  fish?" 

"  Plenty.     Do  you  want  some  ?  " 

They  answered  with  a  joyful  shout,  and  four  of 
the  gentlemen,  jumping  into  their  skiff,  were  soon 
on  board.  One  of  them  proved  to  be  an  acquaint- 
ance of  ours  from  Portland.  They  had  set  out  on 
a  chowder  excursion  to  Diamond  Cove,  and  had 
been  fishing  all  the  morning,  with  scant  luck.  We 
gave  them  fish  enough  for  their  chowder,  and  the 


184  A   SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

Assyrian,  whose  hospitable  instincts  had  kindled 
up  at  the  sight  of  visitors,  invited  them  into  the 
cabin  to  partake  of  his  favorite  liquor,  which,  like 
the  Chaplain  in  "  Jonathan  Wild,"  he  was  fond  of 
recommending  as  a  wholesome  beverage  nowhere 
condemned  in  Scripture,  and,  as  he  added,  not 
contraband  to  Maine  law,  so  long  as  you  called  it 
lemonade.  He  gravely  checked  one  of  the  stran- 
gers who  inadvertently  spoke  of  it  as  punch. 

Ascertaining  that  the  people  on  the  yacht  had 
nothing  to  drink  on  board  but  ale,  the  Assyrian 
insisted  on  sending  to  them  a  pailful  of  his  lemon- 
ade, with  the  compliments  of  the  Helen.  The 
Skipper  in  our  dory  accordingly  accompanied  the 
strangers  back  to  their  vessel,  bearing  with  him 
the  steaming  oblation,  together  with  a  dozen  of  our 
best  fish.  They  received  the  present  with  a  cheer, 
and  making  sail  for  Diamond  Cove,  were  soon  out 
of  sight  among  the  islands. 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       185 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

THE  SEA-CUCUMBER  —  JAQUISS  AND  BAILEY  ISLANDS. 
—  MACKEREL  COVE.  —  THE  MAINE  LAW. 

SHORTLY  after  their  departure  we  got  under 
way,  and  as  the  sloop  began  to  move,  the  Profes- 
sor threw  over  the  dredge.  In  a  few  minutes  it 
was  full,  and  we  hauled  it  up,  and  found  among  the 
contents  several  rare  shells,  fine  specimens  of  star- 
fishes, and,  what  was  then  new  to  me,  a  number 
of  sea-onions  and  sea-cucumbers.  These  last  are 
living  creatures,  denizens  of  the  bottom  of  the  sea, 
lying  at  considerable  depths.  The  sea-onion  re- 
sembles a  large  vegetable  onion,  cut  in  two  longi- 
tudinally ;  and  the  sea-cucumber,  in  size,  shape,  and 
color,  is  so  similar  to  its  namesake  of  the  land  that 
we  were  almost  tempted  to  slice  it  up  and  try  it 
with  vinegar.  It  belongs,  in  fact',  to  the  same  fam- 
ily with  the  trepang,  of  which  many  species  are 
eaten  by  the  Chinese,  who  employ  it  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  nutricious  soups,  in  common  with  an  escu- 
lent sea-weed,  shark's  fins,  edible  bird's-nests,  and 
other  materials  affording  much  jelly.  The  length 
of  the  sea-cucumber  is  from  four  to  eight  inches, 
but  it  possesses  the  power,  within  certain  limits,  of 
extending  or  contracting  its  body  at  will.  Its  head, 
when  the  animal  is  alarmed,  is  so  concealed  as  to 


186  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

be  almost  imperceptible,  but,  if  it  be  placed  in  a 
bucket  of  sea-water,  and  left  awhile  undisturbed, 
the  head  will  be  gradually  protruded  and  expand- 
e*d,  until  it  assumes  the  appearance  of  a  beautiful 
flower,  generally  of  a  brilliant  rose-color.  The 
least  touch,  however,  will  cause  this  efflorescence 
to  suddenly  disappear.  The  creature  moves  prin- 
cipally by  the  aid  of  sucker-like,  feet,  of  which,  in 
most  species,  there  are  five  longitudinal  rows. 

As  the  Pilot  and  Skipper  wished  for  news  from 
home,  we  directed  our  course  to  Herring  Gut,  an 
anchorage  between  Bailey's  Island  and  Jaquiss, 
which,  as  it  communicates  directly  and  easily  with 
the  ocean,  is  much  frequented  by  fishermen,  and 
we  could  hardly  fail  to  find  there  some  vessel  fresh 
from  Swampscott,  and  certainly  some  one  from 
Gloucester.  We  anchored  about  the  middle  of 
the  afternoon,  among  a  small  fleet  of  schooners, 
with  whose  crews  our  seamen  were  soon  in  deep 
conference  about  persons  and  affairs  on  the  north 
shore  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 

Leaving  them  to  enjoy  their  gossip  on  board  of 
a  Swampscott  schooner,  we  rowed  the  dory  into  a 
charming  little  nook  on  the  rocky  shore  of  Jaquiss, 
and  landed  to  explore  the  island.  It  proved  to  be 
a  perfect  gem  of  the  sea,  and  fit  to  be  the  habita- 
tion of  Calypso  or  of  Prospero  and  his  daughter. 
Like  many  of  these  islands  of  Casco  Bay,  it  has 
long  been  used  as  a  pasture  for  sheep,  and  to  pro- 
tect the  flocks  from  the  wind  a  thick  belt  of  the 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       187 

original  forest  of  evergreens  has  been  left  growing 
all  around  the  shore.  These  trees,  pines,  cedars, 
firs,  hemlocks,  and  spruces,  kept  sacred  from  the 
axe,  and  permitted  to  grow  at  their  own  sweet 
will,  bent  only  by  the  storms  of  ocean,  are  as 
wildly  picturesque  as  poet  or  artist  could  desire. 
The  sheltered  interior  was  a  meadow,  interspersed 
with  copses  and  clumps  of  oaks  and  maples,  some 
of  them  of  great  size.  No  house  or  barn,  or  sign 
of  human  occupancy,  broke  the  sylvan  solitude  of 
the  island,  which  was  not  marred  even  by  a  fence, 
the  encircling  sea  confining  the  sheep  more  se- 
curely than  a  wall.  A  pond  in  the  centre,  fed  by 
springs  and  garlanded  by  lilies,  gave  the  animals 
drink. 

From  the  summit  of  the  island  the  view  was 
superb,  embracing  on  one  side  the  ocean,  dotted 
with  sails,  and  on  the  other,  across  the  little  road- 
stead where  our  vessel  lay  amid  its  kindred  craft, 
the  pleasant  groves  and  fertile  fields  of  Bailey's 
Island,  and  beyond,  the  far-stretching  peninsulas 
of  Harpswell  and  the  countless  isles  of  the  bay. 
A  long,  long  while  we 

"  Looked  from  the  rocky  cliff, 
Whose  foot  the  tender  foam-wreaths  kissed,  — 
Towards  the  outer  circle  of  mist 

That  hedged  the  old  and  wonderful  sea ; 
Below  us,  as  if  with  endless  hope, 
Up  the  beach's  rnarbled  slope, 

The  waters  clomb  unweariedly." 

The  Assyrian  was  enraptured  with  Jaquiss,  and 


188  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

his  enthusiasm  broke  out  in  random  citations  from 
The  Tempest:  "How  lush  and  lusty  the  grass 
looks  !  how  green  !  "  he  cried  in  the  words  of  old 
Gonzalo.  And  then,  following  Caliban  : 

"  I  '11  show  thee 
Every  fertile  inch  of  the  island, 

I  '11  show  thee  the  best  springs  ;  I  '11  pluck  thee  berries ; 
I  '11  fish  for  thee,  — 
I  prythee  let  me  bring  thee  where  crabs  grow  !  " 

This  last  line  was  addressed  to  the  Professor  of 
Marine  Zoology,  who,  heedless  of  the  beauties  of 
sky  and  sea,  of  woods  and  rocks,  was  already, 
with  his  customary  ardor,  in  the  service  of  science, 
attentively  inspecting  the  beaches  in  search  of 
specimens  of  natural  history.  The  Assyrian,  who 
was  something  of  a  naturalist  himself,  took  the 
man  of  science  by  the  hand,  and  led  him  to  a  great 
mass  of  rock,  sloping  down  to  the  water,  and 
thickly  covered  with  slimy  sea-weed.  This  place 
swarmed  with  crabs,  and  the  Professor,  whom 
much  practice  had  made  singularly  expert  in 
catching  these  creatures,  soon  pulled  out  of  its 
recesses  as  many  as  it  was  convenient  for  us  to 
carry.  We  returned  to  the  sloop,  and  putting 
the  Professor  and  his  prey  on  board,  we  left  him 
to  study  the  crabs  at  his  leisure,  and  went  to  Bai- 
ley's Island,  to  which  we  were  rowed  by  the  Skip- 
per, who  had  finished  his  gossip  and  come  aboard 
in  our  absence. 

Bailey's  Island  being  several  miles  long,  we  de- 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       189 

termined  to  explore  it,  and  visit  a  store  which  was 
said  to  be  at  the  other  end,  in  order  to  purchase 
some  things  we  needed.  We,  therefore,  on  part- 
ing with  the  Skipper,  directed  him  to  take  the 
sloop  round  to  Mackerel  Cove,  a  harbor  on  that 
side  of  the  island  toward  which  we  proposed  to 
walk,  and  be  ready  to  take  us  on  board  in  time 
for  supper. 

Our  steps  were  first  directed  to  a  respectable 
looking  farm-house  which  had  been  in  sight  from 
the  sloop,  and  had  attracted  our  attention  by  its 
fine  situation  on  a  height  near  the  shore,  from 
which  there  could  not  fail  to  be  a  noble  view. 
We  wanted  to  see  the  view,  to  see  also  the  people, 
and  to  get  a  drink  of  water,  for  our  supply  of  that 
element  on  the  Helen  had  grown  to  be  somewhat 
stale,  and  the  day  was  warm,  and  our  walk  on 
Jaquiss  had  heated  us  a  little. 

The  view  we  found  magnificent.  The  peo- 
ple —  all  that  were  at  home  —  consisted  of  two 
young  ladies,  both  barefooted  ;  —  the  oldest,  a 
handsome,  healthy,  frank-looking  girl  of  eighteen, 
or  thereabouts,  arrayed  in  a  dress  distended  by  a 
single  hoop,  taken  probably,  as  the  Artist  sug- 
gested, from  some  old  barrel.  The  second  dam- 
sel, several  years  younger  than  her  sister,  was 
reading,  when  we  entered,  a  volume  which  proved 
to  be  Robinson  Crusoe,  a  not  inappropriate  book 
for  such  a  situation. 

They  received  us    cordially,  and   the   younger 


190  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

girl  ran  for  water  to  the  well,  which  stood  at  some 
distance  from  the  house,  and  was  worked  by  an 
old-fashioned  sweep.  We  sat  down  and  had  a  lit- 
tle chat  with  the  elder  girl,  whose  manners  were 
good,  and  her  language  excellent.  She  had  visited 
the  mainland,  and  had  once  travelled  even  as  far 
as  Boston,  but  maintained,  very  justly,  that  she 
had  seen  no  place  so  beautiful  as  her  native  island. 
She  seemed  fully  to  appreciate  the  romantic  natu- 
ral loveliness  of  her  home,  and  talked  with  dis- 
crimination of  all  the  characteristics  of  the  scenery. 

Bidding  adieu  to  these  damsels,  we  walked 
through  a  grove  of  stately  pines,  and  then  through 
cultivated  fields  on  the  road  toward  the  store. 
Shortly  after  passing  the  grove  we  met,  at  the  top 
of  a  long  hill,  a  bevy  of  children  coming  home 
from  school.  We  stopped  them,  —  and  after  they 
had  answered  some  inquiries  as  to  the  road,  the 
Assyrian  pulled  out  a  quantity  of  coppers  which 
had  been  burning  his  pockets  ever  since  he  left 
Portland,  and  with  impressive  gravity  distributed 
them  among  the  urchins. 

The  effect  of  this  donation  was  prodigious.  Ap- 
parently so  much  money  had  never  before  been 
seen  on  Bailey's  Island.  The  barefooted  recipi- 
ents, after  one  eager  and  amazed  glance  at  their 
acquisitions,  simultaneously  broke  into  a  run,  and 
as  we  watched  them  scudding  down  the  long  hill, 
we  could  see  one  after  another  darting  into  the 
lanes  which  led  to  their  respective  homes,  each 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       191 

anxious  to  display  his  treasures  to  the  admiring 
eyes  of  his  family. 

A  pretty  long  walk  brought  us  to  the  store, 
near  which  was  the  house  of  the  Principal  Inhab- 
itant of  the  island,  a  retired  sea-captain,  renowned 
for  his  wealth  and  magnificence,  of  whom  we  had 
heard  much  from  our  female  friends  at  the  farm- 
house. His  abode  was  surrounded  by  apple-trees, 
and  the  Principal  Inhabitant  himself  was  standing 
in  front  of  it ;  and  we  paid  him  our  respects  in 
passing,  and  endeavored  to  enter  into  conversa- 
tion, but  found  it  rather  difficult.  He  would  not 
answer  a  question  directly,  and  spoke  with  most 
exasperating  slowness.  He  had,  beside,  a  queer 
habit  of  always  turning  his  back  to  us  when  he 
said  anything.  We  tried  to  circumvent  him  in 
this,  by  dividing  our  forces  and  surrounding  him  ; 
but  he  was  not  so  easily  baffled.  He  walked  to 
his  garden  fence,  and,  getting  over,  placed  his  back 
against  it,  and  thus  continued  the  conversation  in 
his  old  attitude. 

We  got  little  out  of  him,  however,  except  some 
Jack  Bunsby  opinions  about  the  cultivation  of 
apple-trees,  and  the  assurance,  given  after  a  slow 
and  circumspect  observation  of  the  sky,  that  a 
thunder-storm  was  coming  up,  and  that  it  would 
probably  rain  within  an  hour.  As  our  own  me- 
teorological observations  corroborated  this  proph- 
ecy, we  turned  our  backs  on  the  back  of  the  Prin- 
cipal Inhabitant  and  proceeded  to  the  store. 


192  A  SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

It  was  a  square  wooden  building,  painted  white 
on  one  side,  red  on  another,  blue  on  a  third,  and 
yellow  on  a  fourth,  and  contained  a  little,  appar- 
ently, of  everything  on  the  earth  or  beneath  the 
earth.  We  made  our  purchases  under  the  scru- 
tiny of  three  or  four  of  the  islanders,  who  eyed  us 
attentively,  in  profound  silence,  evidently  much 
perplexed  to  reconcile  our  red  shirts  and  fish- 
stained  trousers,  with  something  in  our  appear- 
ance and  speech  that  was  not  exactly  in  congruity 
with  such  garb.  The  Assyrian,  whose  long  walk 
had  made  him  drouthy,  drew  the  storekeeper  aside 
from  these  spectators,  and  asked  if  he  had  any- 
thing to  drink.  The  answer  was  a  decided  nega- 
tive, —  nothing  of  the  kind  was  to  be  had  on  the 
island. 

We  departed  with  a  realizing  sense  of  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  Maine  Law,  and  made  the  best  of  our 
way  to  Mackerel  Cove,  where  we  arrived  consid- 
erably after  sunset.  The  thunder-storm  had  be- 
gun, and  the  rain  was  already  falling.  We  were 
very  tired  and  hungry,  and  anxious  to  get  on 
board  the  Helen,  whose  single  mast  and  graceful 
hull  were  visible  in  the  middle  of  the  harbor.  We 
hailed  her,  and  after  shouting  for  some  time  we 
saw  the  Skipper  come  on  deck.  He  replied  to 
our  hail,  but  the  distance  was  such  that  his 
answer  was  unintelligible,  and  we  could  make 
nothing  of  his  gesticulations.  We  could  see,  how- 
ever, that  the  dory  was  absent  from  the  sloop,  and, 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       193 

as  no  one  but  the  Skipper  appeared  on  deck,  could 
easily  conjecture  that  the  Professor  had  gone  on 
one  of  those  untimely  expeditions  to  which  he  was 
addicted,  and  had  taken  the  Pilot  with  him. 

Here  was  a  predicament.  But  there  was  no 
help  for  it.  We  lighted  our  cigars,  and,  tired  as 
we  were,  paced  up  and  down  the  beach  to  keep 
ourselves  warm,  for  it  was  raining  hard,  and  the 
air  had  become  chilly.  At  length,  as  it  was  grow- 
ing dark,  we  dimly  saw  at  the  mouth  of  the  cove 
the  returning  boat.  It  grew  dark  so  fast  that  we 
lost  sight  of  her  before  she  gained  the  sloop,  but 
after  the  Professor  got  on  board,  the  Skipper  took 
the  place  of  the  Pilot,  and,  guided  by  our  shouts, 
came  for  us. 

In  explanation  of  the  absence  of  the  boat,  he  said 
the  Professor  had  been  "  scow-banging,"  —  a  term 
new  to  us.  It  meant  that,  as  the  Helen  sailed  into 
the  Mackerel  Cove,  she  passed  a  school  of  the  fish 
from  which  the  harbor  derives  its  name,  and  the 
Professor,  who  was  peculiarly  fond  of  mackerel- 
fishing,  had  taken  the  Pilot  and  the  dory,  as  soon 
as  the  sloop  came  to  anchor,  and  had  gone  in  pur- 
suit, —  the  chase  of  mackerel  with  a  boat  being 
called  by  the  fishermen  "  scow-banging."  They 
had  caught  plenty,  and  by  the  time  we  got  on 
board,  and  had  changed  our  wet  clothes  for  dry 
ones,  the  Pilot  placed  on  the  supper-table  a  heap 
of  delicious  broiled  mackerel.  We  fell  to  with 
avidity,  but  the  Assyrian  turned  with  disdain 

9  M 


194  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

from  the  mug  of  tea  which  the  Skipper  set  before 
him. 

"  Skipper,"  he  said,  "  I  am  wet  to  the  bones,  — 
nothing  will  dry  me  but  whiskey.  Let  us  have 
some  lemonade." 

The  Skipper  opened  the  locker  in  which  the 
lemons  were  kept,  and,  after  rummaging  for  some 
time,  declared  that  the  lemons  were  all  gone,  — 
the  last  had  been  used  in  making  that  pail  of  punch 
for  our  friends  of  the  yacht. 

The  Assyrian  growled  a  little  at  this  announce- 
ment, but  at  length  said :  "  Well,  well,  never 
mind,  we  must  do  without  lemons.  Whiskey  and 
hot  water  and  sugar  make  a  very  good  drink ;  let 
us  have  the  whiskey." 

The  Skipper  slowly  produced  the  jug,  and  I  saw 
by  his  countenance  that  something  was  the  mat- 
ter. He  said  nothing,  however,  but  handed  the 
vessel  to  the  Assyrian,  who  placed  a  tumbler  be- 
fore him,  and  began  to  turn  the  jug  upside  down. 
Nothing  came ;  it  was  empty.  The  Assyrian 
looked  at  the  Skipper,  and  the  Skipper  looked  at 
him.  They  understood  each  other  without  speak- 
ing. The  whiskey  had  not  given  out  solely  in 
consequence  of  our  liberality  to  the  people  of  the 
yacht.  During  our  absence  ashore,  the  Skipper 
had  been  entertaining  some  of  his  Swampscott  or 
Cape  Ann  friends.  His  hospitality  was  pardon- 
able, perhaps  commendable,  but  the  consequence, 
at  that  particular  time  and  place,  was  rather  dis- 


THE  COAST  -OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       195 

"  Skipper,"  said  the  Assyrian,  after  he  had  for 
some  time  contemplated  that  individual's  physiog- 
nomy, "  what  is  the  nearest  large  town  on  our 
course  eastward  ?  " 

"Boothbay." 

"  How  far  is  it  ?  " 

"  Fifty  or  sixty  miles." 

"  Can  we  get  lemons  there  ?  " 

"  Certainly." 

"  And  whiskey  ?  " 

"  Very  likely." 

"  Make  sail  for  Boothbay  as  soon  as  it  is  light 
to-morrow.  And  now,  Skipper,  get  out  half  a 
dozen  bottles  of  ale,  and  let  us  have  some  clean 
mugs. 


196  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 

FLOUNDER-FISHING.— CATCHING  A  HALIBUT. 

NOTWITHSTANDING  the  Assyrian's  impatience 
to  reach  Boothbay,  we  found,  when  we  came  on 
deck  Friday  morning,  that  there  was  little  induce- 
ment to  get  under  way.  The  air  was  chill  and 
damp,  the  sky  covered  with  dense  clouds,  threat- 
ening imminent  rain,  and,  worse  than  all,  there 
was  not  the  slightest  breath  of  wind.  To  get  out 
of  the  cove  we  should  have  to  tug  at  the  oar  for 
at  least  an  hour,  and  on  gaining  the  open  sea 
might  find  ourselves  still  becalmed.  So  we  con- 
cluded to  have  breakfast  before  we  started,  and 
while  that  was  in  preparation,  we  dropped  our 
lines  over  the  side  of  the  sloop  and  caught  a  num- 
ber of  large  flounders. 

The  Rev.  David  Badham  says  the  best  time  for 
taking  the  flounder  is  at  dawn,  when  he  is  on  the 
prowl  for  a  breakfast : 

"  He  that  intends  a  flounder  to  surprise, 
Must  start  betimes,  and  fish  before  sunrise." 

The  same  authority  declares  that  it  is  far  better 
entertainment  to  fish  for  flounders  than  to  eat 
them.  The  Frieslanders,  however,  think  other- 
wise, and  have  been  at  the  trouble  of  naturalizing 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       197 

them  in  fish-ponds.  The  flounders,  too,  about 
Memel,  on  the  Baltic,  are  held  in  esteem  as  food. 
Mr.  Franks,  in  his  "  Northern  Memoirs,"  com- 
mends them  for  their  game  qualities. 

"  These  fish,"  he  says,  "  are  bold  as  buccaneers, 
of  much  more  confidence  than  caution,  and  so 
fond  of  a  worm  that  they  will  go  to  the  banquet 
though  they  die  at  the  board  ;  they  are  endowed 
with  great  resolution,  and  struggle  stoutly  for  the 
victory  when  hooked  ;  they  are  also  more  than 
ordinarily  difficult  to  deal  with  by  reason  of  their 
build,  which  is  altogether  flat,  as  it  were  a  level. 
The  flounder,  I  must  further  tell  you,  delights  to 
dwell  among  stones ;  besides,  he  is  a  great  admirer 
of  deeps  and  ruinous  decays,  yet  as  fond  as  any 
fish  of  moderate  streams  ;  and  none  beyond  him, 
except  the  perch,  that  is  more  solicitous  to  rifle 
into  ruins,  insomuch  that  a  man  would  fancy  him 
an  antiquary,  considering  he  is  so  affected  with 
relics." 

The  French  fishermen  account  for  the  distorted 
mouth  of  the  flounder  by  the  following  legend  : 
St.  Christopher,  a  martyr  of  the  third  century, 
one  day  took  it  into  his  head  to  bless  the  fishes 
and  to  preach  to  them.  All  the  inhabitants  of  the 
deep  came  and  listened  with  attention  and  respect 
except  the  flounder,  who  derided  the  holy  man 
by  making  faces  at  him.  The  Saint,  indignant 
at  the  insult,  cursed  the  whole  brood,  and  con- 
demned them  forever  after  to  exhibit  themselves 
with  mouths  awry. 


198  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

In  the  course  of  ages  the  rebuke  thus  given  by 
Saint  Christopher  seems  to  have  wrought  a  change 
in  the  character  of  the  flounder,  for  a  Greek 
legend,  still  current  at  Constantinople,  ascribes 
the  discordant  color  of  the  two  sides  of  the  fish  to 
the  fact  that  when  the  Turks  conquered  Constan- 
tinople in  1453,  some  priests  at  a  church  near  the 
Silivria  gate  were  frying  flounders  for  dinner  just 
as  the  Infidels  entered  the  city,  and  were  among 
the  first  victims  of  the  massacre.  The  fish,  filled 
with  pious  respect  for  the  Church,  expressed  their 
horror  at  the  sacrilegious  deed  by  jumping  out  of 
the  frying-pan  into  a  neighboring  stream,  whence 
they  made  their  way  to  the  sea,  completely  cooked 
on  one  side.  In  token  of  the  miracle,  the  entire 
species  has  ever  since  exhibited  the  mark  of  the 
fire,  generally  on  the  right  side ;  though,  now  and. 
then,  an  eccentric  individual  displays  it  on  the  left 
side. 

After  breakfast  a  faint  breeze  sprung  up,  and, 
assisted  by  the  tide,  we  slowly  drifted  out  of  the 
cove,  and  about  the  middle  of  the  forenoon  reached 
the  open  sea.  The  wind  —  what  there  was  of  it 
—  and  tide  still  serving,  the  Skipper  proposed  to 
run  southward  a  few  miles  out  of  our  course  to 
Drunken  Ledge  and  fish  for  halibut.  We  as- 
sented, and  about  noon  anchored  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  a  formidable  reef,  over  which  the  sea  was 
foaming  splendidly,  while  all  around  was  calm  and 
smooth.  These  rocks  lie  in  the  ocean,  on  the 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       199 

edge  of  Casco  Bay,  about  five  miles  from  the 
nearest  islands. 

Taking  lines  stouter  and  with  larger  hooks  than 
those  we  used  for  cod-fishing,  we  baited  with  pieces 
of  flounder  and  tried  our  luck.  In  the  course  of 
half  an  hour  we  caught  several  skates,  large  cod, 
haddocks,  and  one  or  two  hake.  But  these  were 
not  what  we  came  for,  and  the  impatient  Assyrian 
was  already  talking  of  Boothbay  and  his  everlast- 
ing lemons,  when  suddenly  a  tremendous  jerk,  fol- 
lowed by  a  rapid  rushing  of  the  line  through  his 
fingers,  put  a  stop  to  his  grumbling.  He  had 
hooked  a  halibut  at  last. 

"Let  her  run!"  shouted  the  Pilot.  "Hold 
tight,  but  don't  pull  her  in  I  Let  her  play 
awhile!" 

"  Go  it,  lemons ! "  added  the  Professor,  as  the 
Assyrian  sprang  from  the  bench  of  the  cockpit 
where  he  had  been  lazily  reclining,  and  with  eager 
eyes,  and  teeth  deeply  set  in  his  cigar,  began  to 
"  play  "  his  prize. 

After  a  long  and  exciting  contest  the  subdued 
halibut  was  at  length  brought  to  the  surface  in  an 
exhausted  condition,  and  was  skilfully  hoisted  on 
board  by  the  Pilot,  who  exclaimed,  as  he  laid 
the  monster  on  deck,  "A  hundred-pounder,  by 
George ! " 

The  delight  of  the  Assyrian  was  boundless.  He 
got  upon  the  top  of  the  cabin,  and,  swinging  his 
hat,  gave  three  cheers. 


200  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

"  Hurrah,  hurrah,  hurrah  !  " 

Then,  protesting  that  his  exertions  in  the  strug- 
gle had  made  him  faint,  and  that  we  ought  to  cel- 
ebrate the  victory  by  a  drink  all  round,  he  sent 
the  Skipper  into  the  forepeak  for  a  bottle  of  ale, 
which  order  he  presently  countermanded  for  a 
bottle  of  claret,  declaring  that  such  an  achieve- 
ment demanded  the  nobler  liquor,  and  as  the  high 
song  of  Odin  the  Old  says : 

"  Ale  's  not  so  good 
Tor  the  children  of  men 
As  people  have  boasted." 

The  claret  was  brought,  and  we  drank  to  the 
health  of  the  halibut,  who  by  this  time  was  gasping 
his  last  on  deck. 

It  was  truly  a  noble  fish,  lacking  but  a  few 
inches  of  six  feet  in  length.  The  body  was  much 
larger  in  proportion  to  the  breadth  than  in  its  kin- 
dred, the  flounder,  and  was  smooth  and  of  a  dark- 
brown  color  on  the  right  side,  the  left  side  being 
whitish  without  spots.  The  lower  jaw  was  longer 
than  the  upper,  and  both  jaws  were  furnished  with 
two  rows  of  strong,  sharp  teeth.  The  lips  were 
large  and  fleshy,  and  the  "eyes  of  remarkable  size, 
between  two  and  three  inches  in  diameter. 

The  halibut  is  not  found  in  the  Mediterranean, 
but  is  common  on  the  coasts  of  Scotland  and  Ire- 
land, and  on  the  east  coast  of  England,  though  it 
is  not  plentiful  on  the  southern  coast  of  that  coun- 
try. It  flourishes  best  in  northern  latitudes,  and 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       201 

the  Greenlanders  often  subsist  for  a  considerable 
period  exclusively  on  its  flesh,  which  is  cut  into 
slips  and  dried  in  the  sun.  The  Norwegians  and 
Icelanders  also  salt  and  barrel  it  largely  for  home 
consumption. 

We  voted  to  have  a  piece  of  the  halibut  for  din- 
ner, for  which  meal  the  Pilot  had  already  kindled 
his  furnace,  and  the  Skipper  accordingly  cut  off  a 
huge  chunk  near  the  side  fins,  which  he  said  was 
the  best  part  of  the  fish.  The  Assyrian  was  de- 
termined that  it  should  be  cooked  properly,  and  so 
he  overhauled  the  receipts  at  the  end  of  Frank 
Forrester's  Fish  and  Fishing,  of  which  we  had  a 
copy  on  board,  till  he  found  Soyer's  receipt  to  boil 
halibut,  which  he  read  to  the  assembled  crew,  as 
follows :  — 

"  '  A  halibut '  —  and  this,  O  Pilot,  applies  to  a 
piece  as  well  as  to  the  whole  animal  —  '  must  be 
well  rubbed  over  with  salt  and  lemon '  "  —  here 
he  shook  his  head  at  the  Skipper  —  "'before  it  is 
put  in  the  water;  have  ready  a  large  halibut- 
kettle—'" 

"What  the  deuce  is  a  halibut-kettle?"  inter- 
posed the  Pilot. 

"  Never  mind,"  said  the  Assyrian,  "  any  kettle 
will  do,  if  it  is  only  big  enough.  Hear  what  comes 
next.  '  A  large  halibut-kettle  half  full  of  cold 
water,  and  to  every  six  quarts  of  water  put  one 
pound  of  salt ;  lay  the  fish  in,  and  place  it  over 
a  moderate  fire  ;  a  halibut  of  eight  pounds '  —  and 


202  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

that,  Pilot,  will  apply  to  eight  pounds  of  halibut  — 
'  may  be  allowed  to  simmer  twenty  minutes,  or 
rather  more ;  thus  it  will  be  about  three  quarters 
of  an  hour  altogether  in  the  water ;  when  it  begins 
to  crack  very  slightly,  lift  it  up  with  the  drainer 
and  cover  a  clean  white  napkin  over  it ;  if  you 
intend  serving  the  sauce  over  your  fish,  dish  it  up 
with  a  napkin,'  —  hem,  hem,"  continued  the  Assy- 
rian, after  a  brief  pause,  as  he  ran  his  eye  over  the 
rest  of  the  receipt,  "  I  guess  we  may  as  well  stop 
here.  Let  the  drainer  and  the  napkin  and  the 
sauce  go,  —  the  amount  of  it  is,  Captain,  you  must 
rub  it  with  salt,  put  a  lot  of  salt  in  the  water,  and 
let  it  boil  for  somewhat  more  than  half  an  hour." 

"  I  knew  all  that  forty  years  ago,"  growled  the 
old  man,  as  he  turned  to  his  furnace  and  put  on 
his  kettle. 

Until  a  recent  period  the  fishermen  on  the 
banks  of  Newfoundland  had  such  a  hatred  and 
contempt  for  the  halibut,  that  when  they  chanced 
to  catch  one,  they  "  spritsail-yarded  "  it,  by  thrust- 
ing a  piece  of  wood  through  its  gills,  and  letting  it 
go  to  starve  to  death ;  but  we  found  it  made  an 
agreeable  dinner,  in  spite  of  its  coarseness  and 
dry  ness. 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       203 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

A  STORM  OFF  CAPE  SEGUIN.  —  BOOTHBAY.  —  THE 
COAST-SURVEY  SCHOONER. 

WE  sat  long  at  table  that  day,  and  when  we 
went  on  deck  about  three  o'clock  it  was  raining, 
and  the  wind  was  beginning  to  blow  pretty  hard. 
We  made  sail  at  once  in  the  direction  of  Booth- 
bay,  but  in  the  course  of  a  couple  of  hours  the 
wind  rose  to  a  gale.  The  sea  grew  very  rough, 
and  at  length,  almost  every  minute  a  wave  would 
break  over  our  vessel,  and,  sweeping  along  the 
deck,  deluge  the  cockpit  with  water.  We  flbsed 
the  cabin  to  keep  it  dry,  and,  gathering  at  the 
stern,  watched  the  sea,  not  without  anxiety.  The 
air  was  so  thick  with  mist  that  we  could  see  noth- 
ing but  the  raging  waves  around  us,  and  could  not 
tell  where  we  were  going,  though  the  sloop  was 
plunging  along  at  a  fearful  rate,  her  bows  almost 
continually  under  water,  and  her  mast,  which  we 
now  found  was  badly  sprung,  opening  wide  cracks 
at  every  tug  of  the  sails.  There  was  considerable 
danger  of  the  mast's  going  overboard,  and  in  that 
case  we  should  have  been  completely  at  the  mercy 
of  the  waves,  on  a  coast  every  inch  of  which  was 
rock-bound,  —  so  that,  if  our  vessel  struck,  she 
would  be  pounded  to  pieces  in  ten  minutes,  in 
such  a  gale. 


204  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

We  drove  madly  along,  the  grim  old  Pilot  at  the 
helm,  and  the  anxious  Skipper,  arrayed  in  oil-skin 
to  shed  the  wet,  clinging  to  the  mast  and  keeping 
a  sharp  lookout  ahead.  Suddenly  the  mist  rose 
and  rolled  away  before  a  sweeping  blast,  and  then 
we  saw  Seguin  lighthouse,  and  knew  where  we 
were.  It  was  a  superb  and  terrible  sight,  such  as 
Lowell  saw  in  a  storm  from  Appledore  :  — 

"  North,  east,  and  south  there  are  reefs  and  breakers 

You  would  never  dream  of  in  smooth  weather, 
That  toss  and  gore  the  sea  for  acres, 
Bellowing,  and  gnashing,  and  snarling  together." 

But  the  poet  saw  it  safe  on  dry  land,  while  to 
us,  dashing  along  in  our  little  egg-shell,  the  view 
of  these  wild  reefs,  with  the  waves  foaming  and 
flashing  over  them  directly  in  our  course,  was  a 
prospect  of  beauty  not  unmixed  with  dread.  It 
was  growing  late,  and  the  gale  was  evidently  on 
the  increase.  The  sea  was  white  with  foam  on 
the  surface,  but  the  great  waves,  as  they  came 
leaping  and  roaring  at  us,  had  a  black  and  angry 
look  not  pleasant  to  behold.  Our  aged  pilot,  as  he 
sat  clutching  the  helm,  his  hat  drawn  tightly  over 
his  brows  to  keep  it  from  blowing  off,  glanced 
uneasily  from  time  to  time  at  the  laboring  and 
groaning  mast,  whose  wide  seams  were  alternately 
opening  and  shutting,  but  he  said  nothing.  He 
had  weathered  many  a  harder  gale,  though  never 
in  so  poor  a  craft.  The  Assyrian,  clinging  to  the 
cover  of  the  cabin  for  support,  and  with  strong 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.      205 

symptoms  of  sea-sickness  in  his  face,  at  length 
broke  out  as  a  whooping  billow  swept  over  us, 
sousing  him  from  head  to  foot: 

"  Now  would  I  give  a  thousand  furlongs  of  sea 
for  an  acre  of  barren  ground ;  long  heath,  brown 
furze,  anything !  I  say,  Skipper,  this  is  coming  it 
rather  strong.  Can't  we  put  in  somewhere  ?  " 

The  Skipper  had  been  for  some  minutes  watch- 
ing a  large  schooner  about  a  mile  ahead  of  us,  and, 
coming  aft,  said  that  it  was  hardly  possible  to 
weather  Cape  Newagin  in  such  a  storm,  even 
if  our  mast  held,  about  which  he  had  great  doubts. 
The  schooner  ahead  of  us  was  running  for  shelter 
into  Sheepscut  Bay,  where  there  was  an  excellent 
harbor,  and  we  could  easily  follow  her  in.  The 
Pilot,  after  an  emphatic  reference  to  "  that  d — d 
old  stick,"  as  he  called  the  mast,  assented  to  this 
opinion,  and  our  course  was  accordingly  changed 
to  the  northward. 

Following  the  lead  of  the  schooner  for  several 
miles,  we  reached  about  nightfall  a  beautiful  and 
perfectly  sheltered  harbor,  which  the  Skipper 
called  sometimes  Southport  and  sometimes  Aben- 
acook,  —  it  bearing  both  names  apparently.  There 
were  a  few  scattered  houses  on  the  shore,  but 
nothing  that  could  be  called  a  village.  We  an- 
chored in  the  midst  of  a  number  of  vessels  which 
had,  like  ourselves,  sought  refuge  there  from  the 
gale,  though  all  except  the  schooner  that  we  fol- 
lowed had  put  in  earlier  in  the  day.  The  storm, 


206  A.   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

as  we  afterwards  learned,  raged  all  along  the  coast, 
and  did  considerable  damage  to  the  shipping. 

The  weather  had  grown  so  cold  as  to  be  uncom- 
fortable even  in  our  snug  cabin,  and  so,  after  has- 
tily swallowing  some  supper,  we  stripped  off  our 
wet  clothes  and  turned  into  our  berths  long  before 
our  usual  hour  of  going  to  sleep. 

I  lay  awake  half  the  night  listening  to  the  rain 
pattering  on  the  deck,  and  when  we  arose  next 
morning  it  was  still  pouring  hard.  It  was  so  cold 
that  the  seamen  got  the  stove  out  of  the  forepeak, 
and  we  soon  had  a  fire  in  the  cabin,  to  which  the 
rain  confined  us  all  the  forenoon.  The  schooner 
we  had  followed  into  this  harbor  was  bound  for 
Boothbay,  and  after  dinner  got  underway  and 
passed  into  Townsend  Cut,  a  passage  of  some 
miles  in  length  leading  into  Townsend  Harbor,  as 
the  port  of  Boothbay  is  called.  We  followed, 
and,  the  rain  having  ceased,  had  a"  delightful 
sail  through  a  most  singular  strait  narrow,  like  a 
river  of  moderate  size,  and  bordered  on  both  sides 
by  meadows  green  to  the  water's  edge,  with  oc- 
casional groves  ringing  the  banks.  We  should 
have  had  no  suspicion  that  this  passage  was  not  a 
river  had  it  not  been  for  the  seaweed  growing  on 
its  rocky  edges. 

We  reached  Boothbay  in  the  course  of  an  hour, 
and  came  to  anchor  a  short  distance  off  the  town, 
which  seemed  to  be  of  considerable  size.  The 
Assyrian  immediately  put  on  his  shore  clothes, 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       207 

and  getting  the  Skipper  to  row  him  to  the  nearest 
wharf,  went  in  search  of  lemons  and  whiskey. 
After  a  protracted  absence  he  returned  disconso- 
late. Lemons  he  had  got,  but  whiskey  was  not  to 
be  obtained  for  love  or  money  ;  the  place,  he  said, 
was  drier  than  Sahara.  He  brought  us,  however, 
letters  and  papers,  so  that  his  visit  was  not  alto- 
gether fruitless. 

As  we  sat  reading  the  papers,  a  boat  from  the 
town  came  alongside  with  one  man  in  it,  a  re- 
spectable looking  person,  who  produced  an  empty 
bottle,  and  asked  if  we  could  let  him  have  a  little 
brandy,  for  which  he  would  pay.  His  wife,  he 
said,  was  sick,  and  the  doctor  had  prescribed 
brandy,  but  none  was  to  be  had  in  the  town. 

The  Assyrian's  sympathies  were  touched  by 
this  appeal,  and  he  gave  the  man  a  couple  of  bot- 
tles of  ale,  assuring  him  that  he  would  have  been 
welcome  to  brandy  if  we  had  not  unfortunately  got 
out  of  everything  of  the  sort.  He  was  still  ex- 
pressing his  admiration  of  the  stranger's  conjugal 
devotion,  when  we  were  hailed  by  a  boat  ap- 
proaching from  another  quarter  of  the  town. 
This,  too,  contained  a  single  individual,  and  he 
too  produced  a  bottle,  and,  strange  to  say,  he  like- 
wise had  a  sick  wife,  for  whom  the  doctor  had  pre- 
scribed brandy. 

The  Assyrian's  eyes  began  to  open.  "  I  say, 
my  dear  fellow,"  he  remarked  to  the  man  in  the 
boat,  "are  all  the  women  in  Boothbay  sick,  and 


208  A  SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

has  the  doctor  prescribed  brandy  for  all  of  them  ? 
You  're  the  second  chap  that  has  been  here  within 
ten  minutes  with  the  same  story.  Had  n't  you 
better  call  a  town-meeting,  and  confer  together,  so 
as  to  have  a  little  variety  in  your  pretences  ?  " 

The  man  laughed,  and  explained  that,  as  no 
liquor  could  be  bought  in  town,  the  only  way  they 
had  to  get  it  was  by  buying  it  of  vessels  in  the 
harbor,  and  they  had  found  the  pretence  of  sick- 
ness useful  in  inducing  their  visitors  to  violate  the 
law  by  selling  to  them. 

Shortly  after  this  fellow  left  us,  the  Professor, 
who  had  been  scrutinizing  the  craft  in  the  harbor 
through  the  telescope,  pointed  out  a  schooner  at 
some  distance  which  he  recognized  as  the  United 
States  Coast-Survey  vessel,  the  Hassler,  and  said 
he  knew  one  of  her  officers. 

The  Assyrian  snapped  his  fingers  in  delight. 
"  I  know  one  too,"  he  said,  "  and  a  right  good  fel- 
low he  is.  Let  us  go  on  board.  We  shall  find 
something  there  to  wet  our  whistles  with,  I 
know." 

In  a  few  minutes  we  were  all  in  the  dory,  and 
the  Skipper  soon  rowed  us  alongside  of  the  schoon- 
er. We  were  cordiallv  received  by  the  three  of- 
ficers on  board,  and  found  the  Assyrian's  predic- 
tion amply  verified.  As  we  sat  in  the  cabin, 
whose  spaciousness  seemed  magnificent,  compared 
with  that  of  the  Helen,  I  was  startled  by  the  sud- 
den apparition  at  my  elbow  of  an  ebony  complex- 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.      209 

ioned  individual,  bearing  a  tray  containing  decan- 
ters, glasses,  lemons,  and  a  pitcher  of  hot  water. 
How  he  had  got  into  the  cabin  was  inconceivable, 
for  he  certainly  had  not  descended  by  the  only 
visible  entrance.  His  coming,  so  sudden  and  so 
noiseless,  made  me  think  of  the  genii  of  the  ring 
and  of  the  lamp  that  waited  on  Aladdin.  But 
though  he  came  in  so  questionable  a  manner, 
"  the  prince  of  darkness  was  a  gentleman."  Pla- 
cing the  tray  before  us,  he  vanished  as  silently  as 
he  came  —  behind  a  curtain. 

We  spent  a  merry  evening,  and  on  parting,  our 
friends  of  the  Hassler  invited  us  to  dine  with  them 
on  board  the  schooner  on  the  morrow,  remarking, 
by  way  of  enticement,  that  their  steward  had  been 
to  market  that  afternoon,  and  had  brought  back  a 
capital  leg  of  veal.  We  accepted  the  invitation, 
as  Governor  Gardiner  of  Massachusetts  accepted 
his  renomination,  "  Promptly,  unhesitatingly,  joy- 
ously." 

"  Farewell,"  said  the  Assyrian,  as  he  descended 
the  side  of  the  schooner  into  our  boat.  "  If  I 
were  a  Cockney,  I  would  say  to  you  as  Byron 
said  to  his  mistress,  — 

'  Farewell !  if  ever  fondest  prayer 

For  other's  veal  availed  on  high, 
Mine  will  not  all  be  lost  in  air  ! '" 

We  got  back  to  the  sloop  a  little  before  mid- 
night, and  to  celebrate  the  discoveiy  of  the  Hass- 


210  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

ler,  fired  off,  before  we  turned  in,  all  our  remain- 
ing rockets,  blue-lights,  and  Roman  candles. 

The  next  morning  (Sunday)  was  serene  and 
mild.  After  breakfast,  two  of  the  officers  of  the 
Hassler  came  to  visit  us  in  their  cutter,  and  the 
Assyrian  proposed  that,  as  we  were  going  for  the 
first  time  in  several  weeks  to  have  a  Christian  din- 
ner, we  should  all  go  to  church.  To  this  reason- 
able proposal  we  assented,  and,  dressing  ourselves 
in  our  best  clothes,  went  ashore  in  state,  in  man- 
of-war  style,  with  the  United  States  officers  ;  and 
after  rambling  awhile  on  the  beach,  proceeded  in 
search  of  a  meeting-house.  A  very  deaf  old  fel- 
low; whom  we  made  to  understand  by  much  shout- 
ing what  we  wanted,  conducted  us  to  a  sort  of 
garret,  where  we  found  a  small  and  singularly 
hard-favored  congregation,  who  greeted  our  en- 
trance with  a  stare  which  was  prolonged  through- 
out the  whole  service.  Presently  the  minister 
entered,  and  he  too  fixed  his  eyes  upon  us  as  we 
sat  in  a  row  on  a  back  bench,  and  seldom  removed 
his  gaze,  except  when  he  shut  his  eyes  to  pray. 

It  was  a  Methodist  meeting,  and  notwithstand- 
ing the  homeliness  of  the  place  and  the  people,  the 
sermon  was  a  sound  discourse,  full  of  practical 
good  sense.  The  Assyrian  listened  with  devout 
attention,  and,  when  we  came  out,  declared  that 
he  could  now  eat  the  fatted  calf  with  a  good  con- 
science. Re-embarking  in  the  cutter,  we  were 
soon  on  board  the  Hassler,  where  dinner  was 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       211 

speedily  served,  in  fine  style,  by  the  mysterious 
gentleman  in  black,  who  came  and  went  in  the 
most  absolute  silence. 

After  dinner,  we  adjourned  with  our  cigars  to 
the  deck,  and  spent  the  afternoon  in  conversation, 
which  was  prolonged,  by  jest  and  song  and  story, 
far  into  the  evening.  Tea  was  served  on  deck, 
soon  after  sunset,  by  the  speechless  African,  whose 
silence  to  this  day  I  know  not  whether  to  ascribe 
to  absolute  dumbness  or  to  his  sense  of  discipline 
and  propriety. 

At  length  we  bade  our  friends  farewell,  and  re- 
turned to  the  Helen  about  10  o'clock.  The  night 
was  so  fine,  and  the  air  so  warm,  that  we  lingered 
on  deck  till  after  midnight.  Our  parting  com- 
mand to  the  Skipper  was  to  get  under  way  at  day- 
light, and  make  sail  for  the  nearest  large  town  to 
the  eastward. 


212  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

FROM  BOOTHBAY  EASTWARD.  — MACKEREL  AND  MACK- 
EREL-FISHING. 

WE  rose  at  sunrise  on  Monday  morning,  and 
at  six  o'clock  took  our  last  look  of  Boothbay,  and 
hoisted  sail  for  the  eastward.  It  was  a  delicious 

morning,  — 

"  So  cool,  so  calm,  so  bright, 
The  bridal  of  the  earth  and  sky, "  — 

that  we  could  scarcely  believe,  with  old  George 
Herbert,  that  so  sweet  a  day  must  die.  The 
fearful  storm,  the  bleak  blasts,  the  pelting  rains, 
through  which  we  had  so  lately  passed,  seemed  far 
off  and  incredible.  The  gentle  blue  heavens  hang- 
ing above  us,  with  not  a  cloud  to  speck  their  se- 
rene azure,  the  sparkling  waters  rippling  so  gayly 
around  us,  and  the  soft  and  low  breeze  that  wafted 
the  Helen  slowly  along,  were  in  such  exquisite 
and  perfect  harmony  with  the  aspect  of  surround- 
ing nature,  with  the  green  shores,  the  delicately- 
wooded  islands,  and  the  distant  mountain-peaks, 
wreathed  with  soft  and  shadowy  mists,  that  it 
seemed  monstrous  to  think  of  so  fair  a  scene  dis- 
turbed by  tempests  or  overwhelmed  by  snow  and 
ice.  Amid  such  brilliant  sunshine  one  could  hard- 
ly even  credit  the  coming  of  night. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.      213 

As  we  drifted  down  the  harbor,  we  steered  close 
to  the  Hassler,  in  hopes  of  seeing  our  friends  and 
bidding  them  a  last  good-by.  But  no  one  was 
visible  save  the  silent  African,  who  stood  leaning 
over  the  rail,  watching  the  schools  of  mackerel 
that  were  here  and  there  rippling  the  surface 
of  the  water.  He  said  nothing,  but  courteously 
touched  his  hat  as  we  swept  by.  The  mackerel, 
as  usual,  excited  the  Professor's  piscatory  rage, 
and  he  invited  me  to  jump  into  the  dory  with  him, 
and  go  and  catch  a  mess  for  breakfast,  for  which 
meal  the  Pilot  was  leisurely  making  preparations. 
The  wind  was  so  light  that  the  smoke  of  our  fur- 
nace ascended  like  the  smoke  of  a  sacrifice,  and  at 
the  rate  at  which  the  sloop  was  going  we  could 
easily  overtake  her.  As  we  were  now  getting 
fairly  into  the  region  of  mackerel-fishing,  the  Skip- 
per had  taken  care  to  provide  bait,  which  he  pur- 
chased from  a  vessel  with  a  bait-mill  on  board. 

Taking  a  bucket  of  the  stuff,  composed  of  hard- 
heads ground  up,  which  the  mackerel-fishers  use 
to  toll  their  prey  within  reach,  we  entered  the 
dory  and  rowed  toward  the  nearest  school,  —  its 
presence  being  easily  detected  by  the  ripple  which 
the  fishes  make  in  passing  through  the  water. 
When  within  two  or  three  rods  of  them,  the  Pro- 
fessor dropped  the  oars  and  threw  several  handfuls 
of  the  bait  toward  the  mackerel.  Our  lines,  which 
were  loaded  only  with  light  sinkers,  were  already 
baited  with  pieces  of  hardhead,  and  we  threw  them 


214  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

quickly  out.  Instantly  there  was  a  rush  at  them, 
a  sharp,  quick  bite,  and  we  each  pulled  in  a  mack- 
erel. For  a  few  minutes  we  drew  in  fish  as  fast 
as  we  could  bait  and  throw  out  our  lines  ;  often, 
indeed,  not  stopping  to  put  on  fresh  bait,  for  the 
merest  shred  of  skin  hanging  to  the  hook  was  suf- 
ficient. We  had  caught  about  thirty  in  quick 
succession,  the  fish  following  as  our  boat  floated 
along  on  the  tide,  when  suddenly  they  ceased  to 
bite,  something  had  alarmed  them,  and  they  had 
gone  off  like  a  flash  to  reappear  at  the  distance  of 
an  eighth  of  a  mile.  As  we  had  already  more 
than  enough  for  breakfast,  we  did  not  pursue 
them,  but  regained  the  sloop  and  turned  our  cap- 
tures over  to  the  Pilot,  who  soon  had  the  choicest 
of  them  in  his  frying-pan. 

This  was  my  first  experience  of  mackerel-fish- 
ing, and  very  pleasant  I  found  it.  The  author  of 
"  Wild  Sports  of  the  West  of  Ireland"  described 
it  truly  when  he  said :  "  There  is  not  on  sea  or 
river,  always  excepting  angling  for  salmon,  any 
sport  comparable  to  this  delightful  amusement ;  full 
of  life  and  bustle,  everything  about  it  is  animated 
and  exhilarating:  a  brisk  breeze,  a  fair  sky,  the 
boat  in  quick  and  constant  motion,  —  all  is  calcu- 
lated to  interest  and  excite.  He  who  has  experi- 
enced the  glorious  sensations  of  sailing  on  the 
Western  Ocean,  a  bright  autumnal  sky  above,  a 
deep-green  lucid  swell  around,  a  steady  breeze, 
and  as  much  of  it  as  the  hooker  can  stand  up  to, 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       215 

will  estimate  the  exquisite  enjoyment  our  morn- 
ing's mackerel-fishing  afforded." 

I  have  not  yet  seen  any  fish  so  handsome  as  the 
mackerel,  so  elegant  in  form,  so' beautiful  and  bril- 
liant in  color.  The  upper  part  of  the  body  is  dark 
green  in  hue,  the  lower  part  silvery  white,  but 
along  the  sides  are  wavy  bands  of  mixed  and  fluc- 
tuating colors  like  those  of  changeable  silk.  The 
size  of  the  fish  varies  from  ten  to  twenty  inches 
in  length,  and  the  average  weight  is  two  pounds. 
Those  we  caught  were  small,  weighing  not  more 
than  a  pound  each. 

The  mackerel  was  well  known  to  the  ancients, 
and  those  taken  near  the  Island  of  Paros  were 
particularly  celebrated.  The  famous  fish -sauce 
called  garum,  made  from  their  entrails,  was  in- 
vented by  the  Greeks.  The  mackerel  of  the 
Mediterranean,  however,  are  poor  and  tasteless, 
compared  with  those  of  the  Atlantic,  and  though 
Apicius  wrote  many  receipts  for  sauces  to  dress 
them  in,  and  to  pour  over  them  at  table,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  the  ancients  hardly  considered  them  fit  to 
eat  fresh,  but  preferred  them  salted,  as  the  Span- 
iards do  to  this  day.  The  physician  Celsus,  eigh- 
teen hundred  years  ago,  pronounced  them  very 
heavy  food,  — gravissimum  alimentum.  Oppian,  a 
Greek  of  the  second  century,  who  wrote  a  long 
poem  on  fish  and  fishing,  compares  the  mackerel's 
fondness  for  brilliant  colors  and  his  readiness  to 
bite  at  a  bit  of  red  rag,  to  the  rashness  of  an  in- 
fant playing  with  fire :  — 


216  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

"Just  so  the  little  smiling  boy  admires 
The  candle's  painted  blaze  and  curling  spires ; 
Extends  his  hand,  but  dear  experience  gains,  — 
The  greatest  beauty  gives  the  greatest  pains." 

JElian,  another  Greek  writer,  not  long  after- 
ward, tells  one  of  the  strangest  fish-stories  on 
record,  to  the  effect  that  certain  fishermen  had 
formed  a  league  with  a  tribe  of  mackerel,  which 
they  supplied  with  food,  and  in  return  the  mack- 
erel scoured  the  seas  for  them,  and  lured  within 
reach  of  their  nets  and  lines  whole  schools  of  their 
own  species.  The  alliance  between  the  fishermen 
and  these  decoys  was,  says  JElian,  of  a  most  sacred 
and  inviolable  character,  and  even  subsisted,  by 
some  mode  of  tradition,  among  the  descendants  of 
the  contracting  parties  for  many  generations. 

It  has  been  supposed,  until  recently,  that  the 
mackerel  was  a  migratory  fish,  and  that  toward 
winter  it  retired  to  the  polar  regions,  where  it 
kept  itself  warm  by  getting  under  the  ice.  Dr. 
Anderson  gives  a  minute  description  of  their  line 
of  march  in  the  spring,  and  represents  them  as 
pouring  in  succession  along  the  coasts  of  Iceland, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland,  dividing,  as  they  approach 
the  English  Channel,  into  two  columns,  one  of 
which  continues  its  onward  course  along  the  west 
of  France,  Spain,  and  Portugal,  and  streams 
through  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  into  the  Mediter- 
ranean ;  while  the  other  passes  up  the  Channel, 
along  the  northern  coast  of  France  and  the  oppo- 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       217 

site  coast  of  England,  and,  swarming  through  the 
North  Sea,  arrives  about  July  off  the  shores  of 
Jutland,  whence  it  sends  a  detachment  into  the 
Baltic,  while  the  main  army  continues  along  the 
coast  of  Norway  till  it  again  reaches  its  Arctic 
winter  quarters.  The  facts,  however,  do  not  sus- 
tain this  theory  ;  for  while  mackerel  are  seldom 
seen  in  English  waters  till  May,  they  appear  still 
earlier  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  at  Montpelier, 
in  the  South  of  France,  the  fishermen  call  them, 
in  their  peculiar  dialect,  pds  cFAvril,  or  April 
fish,  from  their  recurrence  in  that  month. 

Another  theory,  once  in  vogue  to  account  for 
their  disappearance  during  the  winter,  was  that 
they  plunged  themselves  in  the  mud  at  the  bottom 
of  the  ocean  a  few  miles  from  shore.  A  French 
admiral,  quoted  by  Lace"pede,  declared  that  he  had 
seen  them  with  their  heads  stuck  in  the  sand  in 
such  compact  masses  that  the  bottom  of  the  sea 
•was  literally  paved  with  them. 

It  is  now  believed  that  the  mackerel  retires  to 
mid-ocean  to  spend  the  winter,  as  great  schools 
have  occasionally  been  seen  far  out  in  the  Atlantic, 
as  low  as  the  twentieth  degree  of  north  latitude, 
early  in  May,  swimming  northward  ;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  have  been  seen  in  December  in 
higher  latitude,  swimming  southward. 

The  mackerel  is  said  to  be  particularly  fond  of 
human  flesh,  though  how  this  taste  was  detected  I 
am  unable  to  say.  Old  Eric  Pontoppidan,  Bishop 
to 


218  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

of  Bergen,  to  whose  famous  work  on  the  Natural 
History  of  Norway  we  are  indebted  for  the  first 
notice  of  the  sea-serpent,  and  for  the  only  authen- 
tic account  of  the  Kraken,  and  for  that  remarkably 
concise  chapter  "  On  the  Snakes  of  Norway," 
which  disposes  of  the  subject  in  six  words,  — 
"  There  are  no  snakes  in  Norway,"  —  relates  a 
fearful  story  of  the  mackerel.  A  Norwegian  sailor 
was  bathing  in  a  state  of  nature  on  his  native  coast, 
when  his  white  skin  attracted  a  shoal  of  these 
fierce  and  greedy  little  fishes,  who  gathered  round 
him  in  such  numbers  and  such  force  that  they  bore 
him  out  to  sea  for  some  distance,  nibbling  and 
gnawing  him  so  desperately  that  before  his  com- 
rades —  who  were  not  far  off,  in  their  ship  — 
could  rescue  him,  he  was  so  exhausted  and 
maimed  that  he  expired  soon  after  they  got  him 
into  their  boat. 

The  mackerel  is  taken  in  great  abundance  on 
the  coasts  of  the  British  islands,  and  is  pursued  in 
boats,  and  not  in  large  vessels  as  in  our  American 
waters.  As  the  fish  soon  become  unfit  for  food,  the 
mackerel  dealers  have  been  allowed,  since  1698, 
to  cry  their  commodity  for  sale  through  the  streets 
of  London  on  Sunday.  At  the  fishing  towns 
on  the  coast  the  mackerel  season  is  one  of  great 
bustle  and  activity.  The  high  prices  obtained  for 
early  cargoes,  and  the  large  returns  gained  by  the 
enormous  numbers  of  fish  sometimes  captured 
in  a  single  night,  stimulate  the  fishermen  to  great 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.      219 

exertions.  In  May,  1807,  the  first  Brighton  boat- 
load of  mackerel  sold  at  Billingsgate  market  for 
forty  guineas  a  hundred,  or  nearly  two  dollars  for 
each  fish.  On  the  other  hand,  they  were  so  plen- 
tiful at  Dover  in  1808  that  sixty  were  sold  for  a  shil- 
ling. At  Brighton,  in  June  of  the  same  year,  the 
quantity  of  mackerel  in  the  water  was  so  great  that 
the  fishermen  of  one  boat  could  not  drag  in  their 
nets,  but  had  to  let  nets  and  fish  sink  together. 
On  a  Sunday  in  March,  1833,  four  Hastings  boats 
brought  on  shore  10,800  mackerel,  and  on  the 
next  day  two  boats  brought  7,000. 

The  first  voyagers  to  New  England  noticed  the 
abundance  on  our  coast  of  the  mackerel,  which  the 
Indians  called  Wawwunnekeseag,  a  word  expressive 
of  its  fatness.  Winthrop  relates  that  in  1633  the 
ship  Griffin,  two  days  before  her  arrival  at  Boston, 
lost  a  passenger  by  drowning  as  he  was  casting 
forth  a  line  to  catch  mackerel.  Allerton,  one  of 
the  Mayflower  pilgrims,  received  mackerel  for  sale 
on  "  half  profits  "  at  New  Haven  in  1653.  Seven 
years  after,  the  Commissioners  of  the  Colonies  of 
New  England  recommended  to  the  Colonial  Legis- 
latures to  regulate  the  mackerel  trade,  because 
"  the  fish  is  the  most  staple  commodity  of  this 
country."  The  mackerel  fishery  at  Cape  Cod 
was  held  by  the  Plymouth  Colony  as  public"  prop- 
erty, and  its  profits  appropriated  to  public  uses. 
It  was  rented  from  time  to  time  to  individuals,  and 
a  part  of  the  fund  to  support  the  first  free  school  es- 
tablished in  America  was  derived  from  it. 


220  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

Before  the  Revolution,  the  mackerel  fishery  was 
largely  prosecuted  on  the  coast  of  New  England 
by  sloops  fitted  out  for  the  purpose,  of  which  Mas- 
sachusetts had  about  a  hundred,  while  the  town  of 
Scituate  alone  owned  upward  of  thirty  in  1770. 
Afterward,  this  branch  of  industry  decayed,  and 
for  a  considerable  period  boats  only  were  used. 
But  about  the  beginning  of  this  centuiy,  a  vessel 
was  sent  to  Mount  Desert  to  catch  mackerel,  and 
made  so  profitable  a  trip  that  the  business  soon 
revived,  and  became  more  prosperous  than  ever. 
At  present,  about  1,000  vessels  and  5,000  seamen 
from  Massachusetts  are  employed  in  the  mackerel 
fishing,  and,  beside  the  numbers  of  the  fish  which 
are  sold  to  be  eaten  fresh,  nearly  300,000  barrels 
are  annually  inspected  in  Massachusetts,  which  are 
worth  about  $1,500,000.  The  salted  mackerel 
are  sold  chiefly  in  the  Slave  States,  but  a  large 
proportion  of  the  poorer  quality  is  exported  to 
South  America,  and  to  the  East  and  West  Indies. 

When  a  mackerel  vessel  reaches  a  place  where 
the  fish  are  supposed  to  be  plentiful,  the  master 
furls  all  his  sails  except  the  mainsail,  brings  his 
vessel's  bow  to  the  wind,  ranges  his  crew  at 
intervals  along  one  of  her  sides,  and,  without  a 
mackerel  in  sight,  attempts  to-  i-aise  a  school  by 
throwing  over  bait.  The  baiter  stands  amidships, 
with  the  bait-box  outside  the  rail,  and  with  a  tin- 
cup  nailed  to  a  long  handle,  he  scatters  the  bait  on 
the  water.  If  the  mackerel  appear,  the  men 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       221 

throw  out  short  lines,  to  the  hooks  of  which  a 
glittering  pewter  jig  is  affixed.  The  fish,  if  they 
bite  at  all,  generally  bite  rapidly,  and  are  hauled 
in  as  fast  as  the  most  active  man  can  throw  out 
and  draw  in  a  line.  As  they  pull  them  on  board, 
the  fisherman,  with  a  jerk,  throws  the  fish  into  a 
barrel  standing  beside  him.  So  ravenously  do 
they  bite,  that  sometimes  a  barrelful  is  caught  in 
fifteen  minutes  by  a  single  man.  Some  active 
young  men  will  haul  in  and  jerk  off  a  fish  and 
throw  out  the  line  for  another  with  a  single  mo- 
tion, and  repeat  the  act  in  so  rapid  succession  that 
their  arms  seem  continually  on  the  swing.  "  To 
be  high-line,"  that  is,  to  catch  the  greatest  number 
of  fish,  says  Sabine,  "  is  an  object  of  earnest  desire 
among  the  ambitious ;  and  the  muscular  ease,  the 
precision,  and  adroitness  of  movement  which  such 
men  exhibit  in  the  strife,  are  admirable.  While 
the  school  remains  alongside,  and  will  take  the 
hook,  the  excitement  of  the  men,  and  the  rushing 
noise  of  the  fish  in  their  beautiful  and  manifold 
evolutions  in  the  water,  arrest  the  attention  of  the 
most  careless  observer." 

Sometimes,  after  thousands  have  been  caught  by 
the  ten  or  twelve  men  of  the  crew,  the  mackerel  sud- 
denly disappear.  The  lines  are  then  thrown  aside, 
and  all  hands  go  to  work  to  dress  the  fish,  the  cap- 
tain or  mate  first  counting  them,  and  noting  down 
in  the  fish-book  what  each  man  has  caught.  The 
mackerel  are  split  and  cleaned,  and  soaked  awhile 


222  A  SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

in  barrels  of  salt-water.  They  are  then  washed 
and  handed  to  the  salter,  who  puts  a  handful  of 
salt  in  the  bottom  of  a  barrel,  takes  a  fish  in  his 
right  hand,  rolls  it  in  salt,  and  places  it  skin 
downward  in  the  barrel,  till  he  comes  to  the  top 
layer,  which  is  placed  skins  up  and  well  covered 
with  salt.  When  the  vessel  returns  to  port,  the 
fish  are  sent  on  shore  to  be  sorted  into  three  or 
four  qualities,  weighed,  re-packed,  re-salted,  and 
re-pickled. 

The  mackerel  fishery,  as  pursued  by  the  New- 
Englanders,  is  a  toilsome  and  perilous  calling,  and 
success  in  it  can  only  be  achieved  by  great  energy 
and  activity.  It  is  carried  on  chiefly  in  schooners, 
averaging  fifty  tons,  which  follow  their  prey  to  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  even  to  the  bleak  and 
stormy  coast  of  Labrador.  It  is  well  described  in 
Whittier's  poem,  "  The  Fisherman,"  of  which  I 
quote  a  few  stanzas :  — 

"  Now,  brothers,  for  the  icebergs 

Of  frozen  Labrador, 
Floating  spectral  in  the  moonshine, 

Along  the  low,  black  shore  ! 
Where  like  snow  the  gannet's  feathers 

On  Brador's  rocks  are  shed, 
And  the  noisy  murre  are  flying 

Like  black  scuds  overhead. 

"  Where  in  mist  the  rock  is  hiding, 
And  the  sharp  reef  lurks  below, 
And  the  white  squall  smites  in  summer, 
And  the  autumn  tempests  blow  j 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       223 

Where  through  gray  and  rolling  vapor, 

From  evening  unto  mom 
A  thousand  boats  are  hailing, 

Horn  answering  unto  horn. 

«  There  we  '11  drop  our  lines  and  gather 

Old  ocean's  treasures  in, 
Where'er  the  mottled  mackerel 

Turns  up  a  steel-dark  fin. 
The  sea  's  our  field  of  harvest, 

Its  scaly  tribes  our  grain  ; 
We  '11  reap  the  teeming  waters 

As  at  home  they  reap  the  plain  I 

"  Our  wet  hands  spread  the  carpet, 

And  light  the  hearth  of  home ; 
From  our  fish,  as  in  the  olden  time, 

The  silver  coin  shall  come. 
As  the  demon  fled  the  chamber 

Where  the  fish  of  Tobit  lay, 
So  ours  from  all  our  dwellings 

Shall  frighten  want  away. 

"  Though  the  mist  upon  our  jackets 

In  the  bitter  air  congeals, 
And  our  lines  wind  stiff  and  slowly 

From  off  the  frozen  reels  ; 
Though  the  fog  be  dark  around  us, 

And  the  storm  blow  high  and  loud, 
We  will  whistle  down  the  wild  wind. 

And  laugh  beneath  the  cloud ! " 


224  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

THE   ISLAND    OF   MONHEGAN.  —  OWL'S    HEAD.  — FLAT 
BURGLARY. 

THE  breeze  freshened  as  we  gained  the  open  sea, 
and  though  the  swell  was  very  rough  from  the  ef- 
fects of  the  recent  storm,  we  swept  along  delight- 
fully through  a  host  of  islands,  fair  to  look  upon, 
though  not  possessing  the  romantic  beauty  of  the 
isles  of  Casco  Bay.  This  part  of  the  coast  of 
Maine  is  interesting  from  its  legendary  and  histor- 
ical associations.  We  passed  in  the  course  of  the 
forenoon  the  Island  of  Monhegan,  which  comprises 
a  thousand  acres  of  good  land,  well  cultivated  by 
about  a  hundred  inhabitants,  a  remarkably  intel- 
ligent and  prosperous  people,  who  form  a  pure  de- 
mocracy and  manage  their  public  business  entirely 
without  officers  of  any  kind,  their  only  public  edi- 
fice being  a  school-house,  which  serves  on  Sundays 
for  a  church. 

Close  to  Monhegan  is  an  islet  called  Mananas, 
on  a  rocky  ledge,  in  the  centre  of  which  was  dis- 
covered, in  1808,  an  inscription  in  characters  sup- 
posed to  be  Runic,  and  of  which  a  copy  has  been 
sent  to  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  at  Copenhagen. 
If  the  Vinland  of  the  Northmen  was  in  New  Eng- 
land, there  can  be  no  doubt  that  those  bold  sea- 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       225 

rovers  must  have  lingered  long  and  lovingly  on 
this  coast  of  Maine,  which  so  much  resembles  that 
of  their  own  Norway,  with  its  deep  fiords,  its  rocky 
isles,  and  its  sea-washed  mountains.  At  all  events, 
it  pleased  my  fancy  to  imagine  the  adventurous 
Biorn,  and  his  companions  sailing  along  the  track 
we  were  pursuing,  gazing  with  wondering  eyes  on 
the  same  islands  and  headlands,  unchanged  in  any 
material  aspect  by  the  lapse  of  a  thousand  years. 
I  repeated  to  myself  the  words  of  the  poet  just 
quoted,  who  has  sought  all  along  these  shores  the 
themes  of  his  song. 

"  What  sea-worn  barks  are  those  which  throw 
The  light  spray  from  each  rushing  prow  ? 
Have  they  not  in  the  North  Sea's  blast 
Bowed  to  the  waves  the  straining  mast  ? 
Their  frozen  sails,  the  low,  pale  sun 
Of  Thule's  night  has  shone  upon  j 
Flapped  by  the  sea-wind's  gusty  sweep, 
Round  icy  drift,  and  headland  steep, 
Wild  Jutland's  wives,  and  Lochlin's  daughters, 
Have  watched  them  fading  o'er  the  waters  ; 
Lessening  through  driving  mist  and  spray, 
Like  white-winged  sea-birds  on  their  way  ! 

"  Onward  they  glide,  —  and  now  I  view 
Their  iron-armed  and  stalwart  crew  ; 
Joy  glistens  in  each  wild,  blue  eye, 
Turned  to  green  earth  and  summer  sky  : 
Each  broad,  seamed  breast  has  cast  aside 
Its  cumbering  vest  of  shaggy  hide  ; 
Bared  to  the  sun  and  soft,  warm  air, 
Streams  back  the  Norseman's  yellow  hair. 
I  see  the  gleam  of  axe  and  spear, 
The  sound  of  smitten  shields  I  hear, 

10*  o 


226  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

Keeping  a  harsh  and  fitting  time 
To  Saga's  chant  and  Runic  rhyme  ; 
Such  lays  as  Zetland's  Scald  has  sung 
His  gray  and  naked  isles  among, 
Or  muttered  low,  at  midnight  hour, 
Round  Odin's  mossy  stone  of  power." 


The  earliest  attempts  of  the  English  at  coloniz- 
ing New  England  were  made  here  early  in  the  sev- 
enteenth century  by  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges.  The 
navigator  Gosnold  was  here  in  1602,  and  Martin 
Pring  in  1603.  Captain  John  Smith  visited  Mon- 
hegan  in  1614  for  purposes  of  trade,  and  a  settle- 
ment was  made  on  the  island  in  1618,  two  years 
before  the  Pilgrims  arrived  at  Plymouth.  A  little 
farther  to  the  eastward,  on  the  island  of  Mount 
Desert,  the  mission  of  St.  Saviour  had  been  found- 
ed in  1613  by  the  French  Jesuit,  Father  Pierre 
Baird,  and  destroyed,  together  with  other  French 
settlements  in  Maine,  by  Sir  Samuel  Argal  of  Vir- 
ginia. At  a  later  period,  the  adventurous  Baron 
de  St.  Castine  came  from  Canada  and  built  a  for- 
tress on  the  site  of  the  town  which  now  bears  his 
name.  He  married  the  daughter  of  the  great  Mo- 
docawando,  the  most  powerful  sachem  of  the  East, 
and  had  a  wild  and  romantic  career  till  his  castle 
was  taken  and  plundered  by  Sir  Edmund  Andros, 
Governor  of  Massachusetts.  Over  these  waters 
during  the  same  period  had  cruised  the  Huguenot 
La  Tour,  the  Baron  d'Estienne,  the  Lord  of  Aca- 
dia,  of  whom  Whittier  sings  : 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       227 

"  St.  Saviour  had  looked 

On  the  heretic  sail, 
As  the  songs  of  the  Huguenot 

•Rose  on  the  gale. 
The  pale,  ghostly  fathers 

Remembered  her  well, 
And  had  cursed  her  while  passing 

With  taper  and  bell ; 
But  the  men  of  Monhegan, 

Of  Papists  abhorred, 
Had  welcomed  and  feasted 

The  heretic  Lord. 
They  had  loaded  his  shallop 

With  dun-fish  and  ball, 
With  stores  for  his  larder, 

And  steel  for  his  wall." 

The  breeze  being  fair  and  steady,  we  held  on 
our  course  without  stopping,  till,  at  6  P.  M.,  we 
reached  Owl's  Head,  an  exceedingly  picturesque 
promontory  where  a  large  white  lighthouse 
crowned  a  high  rock  rising  abruptly  from  the 
water.  Here  we  anchored  in  a  broad  channel 
between  the  mainland  and  two  islands,  amid  a  fleet 
of  vessels.  This  channel  is  much  frequented  by 
coasters  and  fishermen,  and  five  hundred  sail  have 
been  seen  passing  Owl's  Head  in  one  day. 

After  supper  the  Assyrian  persuaded  the  Artist 
and  me  to  go  ashore  and  walk  with  him  to  the 
large  town  of  Rockland,  where,  he  was  assured  by 
the  Skipper,  that  whiskey  could  be  obtained  without 
fail.  To  make  a  proper  impression  on  the  people 
of  that  place,  he  arrayed  himself  in  his  best  attire, 
putting  on  for  the  occasion,  for  the  first  time,  a 


228  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

fashionable  stove-pipe  hat  which  he  had  carefully 
reserved  for  a  great  emergency.  In  spite  of  his 
remonstrances,  we  perversely  adhered  to  ouf  red 
shirts,  fishy  pantaloons,  and  old  felt  hats,  and  con- 
sequently made  rather  a  rowdy  appearance  by  the 
side  of 

'"  Our  oiled  and  curled  Assyrian  bull." 

We  set  off  at  a  good  round  pace,  and  the  dis- 
tance to  Rockland,  according  to  the  Skipper,  being 
only  three  miles,  and  the  weather  fine,  though 
growing  cold,  we  were  highly  pleased  at  the  pros- 
pect of  stretching  our  legs  in  a  moderate  walk,  after 
being  cramped  up  in  the  little  sloop.  We  went  on 
cheerfully  for  perhaps  a  couple  of  miles,  on  a  road 
bordered  by  woods,  till  we  met  a  man  driving  a 
wagon  apparently  on  his  way  to  Owl's  Head.  We 
stopped  and  asked : 

"  Is  this  the  road  to  Rockland  ?  " 

«  Wai,  it  is." 

"  How  far  is  it  ?  " 

"  Wai,  a  little  mor'n  three  miles." 

The  wagoner  drove  on,  leaving  us  not  very  well 
satisfied  with  the  result  of  our  inquiries.  We  kept 
on,  however,  for  about  a  mile  farther,  where  we 
encountered  a  traveller  on  foot,  who  assured  us 
that  Rockland  was  still  about  three  miles  distant. 
The  distance  was  evidently  diminishing,  and  we 
pushed  vigorously  onward,  till  at  length,  after 
walking,  as  we  computed,  in  all  about  five  miles, 
we  reached  the  town  of  which  we  were  in  search, 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       229 

about  9  P.  M.  To  our  surprise,  it  proved  to  be  a 
handsome,  city-like  place,  with  well-built  brick 
blocks  and  granite  sidewalks.  The  whole  popula- 
tion appeared  to  be  in  the  street,  returning,  as  we 
learned,  from  a  brass-band  concert. 

The  Assyrian,  perceiving  that  most  of  the  shops 
were  shut,  directed  his  steps  to  a  hotel,  where  he 
made  inquiries  as  to  the  fluid  resources  of  the  town. 
The  answer  was  discouraging.  Nothing  stronger 
than  lager-bier  was  to  be  had  for  love  or  money. 
Unwilling  to  credit  so  fearful  a  state  of  destitution 
in  a  place  of  such  size  and  apparent  business,  our 
thirsty  friend  went  forth  to  explore,  leaving  us  to 
peruse  the  newspapers  and  gather  the  news  of  the 
last  few  weeks.  In  about  half  an  hour  he  re- 
turned tolerably  successful.  He  had  found,  at  an 
apothecary's,  several  bottles  of  Wolfe's  Aromatic 
Schiedam  Schnapps,  which,  in  spite  of  its  preten- 
sions to  be  medicine,  he  said  was  really  a  pretty 
good  article  of  gin,  though  abominably  diluted 
with  water.  Still,  it  was  fit  for  drink,  and,  in  the 
absence  of  better  liquor,  might  be  endured. 

We  set  out  at  once  on  our  return,  each  alter- 
nately bearing  the  precious  package,  which  was 
confoundedly  heavy,  and  reached  Owl's  Head 
just  at  midnight,  scarcely  able  to  stand,  we  were 
so  fatigued,  from  want  of  practice  in  walking  for 
the  last  month.  The  weather  had  changed  greatly 
in  the  course  of  the  evening.  It  had  grown  quite 
cold,  and  the  clouds  indicated  speedy  rain.  With 


230  4   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

some  difficulty,  standing  on  the  shore,  we  detected 
the  Helen  amid  a  crowd  of  vessels  of  all  sizes. 
The  Assyrian  hailed  her: 

"  Hallo  !  the  Helen,  the  Helen  ahoy  !  " 
There  was  no  response.  In  fact,  all  on  board 
were  sound  asleep,  having  turned  in,  under  the 
idea,  gathered  from  some  idle  remark  of  one  of  us 
as  we  left  them,  that  we  should  stay  at  Rockland 
all  night.  The  Assyrian  hailed  again  repeatedly, 
and  with  the  utmost  force  of  his  lungs,  and  we 
joined  him  in  the  outcry.  There  was  still  no  an- 
swer from  the  sloop  ;  but  men  on  board  other  ves- 
sels halloed  at  us  in  wrath  for  making  such  a  dis- 
turbance, and  dogs  on  the  shore  set  up  a  furious 
barking.  There  was  evidently  no  use  in  attempting 
to  rouse  our  sleeping  friends,  and  so  we  walked 
about  the  village  for  a  while,  seeking  for  a  tavern. 
None  was  to  be  seen.  At  length,  growing  desperate 
with  fatigue  and  cold,  we  tried  to  raise  the  in- 
mates of  several  dwellings  in  succession,  but  with- 
out effect;  we  could  not  waken  a  soul.  There 
must  be  something  peculiarly  sleep-provoking  in 
the  atmosphere  of  Owl's  Head,  for  we  made  din 
enough  to  rouse  the  Seven  Sleepers. 

Our  next  effort  was  in  search  of  a  boat,  and  we 
prowled  in  the  dark  and  the  rain,  which  now  began 
to  fall,  for  some  distance  along  the  shore.  We 
found  only  two  skiffs,  one  of  which  was  full  of  wa- 
ter, and  the  other  was  moored  beyond  our  reach 
except  by  swimming.  We  turned  again  to  the  vil- 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       231 

lage,  and  found  at  length  a  ruinous  cooper-shop, 
in  which  we  took  refuge  from  the  rain,  and  made 
an  attempt  to  sleep.  With  a  stick  of  wood  for  a 
pillow,  we  lay  down  on  a  pile  of  shavings,  and 
for  a  few  minutes  slumbered ;  but  the  cold  wind 
blew  so  keenly  through  the  chasms  in  the  walls  of 
the  hut,  that  we  soon  woke,  and  were  forced  to 
rise  and  move  about  to  keep  warm*.  At  length  it 
occurred  to  me  that  the  school-house  of  the  vil- 
lage would  probably  afford  us  a  comfortable  shel- 
ter, if  we  could  find  it.  We  remembered  enough 
of  the  feats  of  our  school-boy  days  to  be  confident 
that  we  could  get  into  any  village  edifice  of  the 
sort  in  New  England. 

As  the  rain  had  somewhat  abated,  we  sallied 
forth  and  happily  in  a  few  minutes  found  the 
building  which  we  sought,  —  a  house  of  one  story 
with  a  single  chimney,  windows  high  above  the 
ground,  and  no  fence  around  it.  After  reconnoi- 
tring it  carefully,  till  satisfied  that  it  was  indeed 
the  school-house,  we  assisted  the  Assyrian  to 
clamber  up  to  a  window  which  had  fortunately 
been  left  a  little  open.  That  gentleman,  after 
much  effort,  at  last  got  his  knee  upon  the  win- 
dow-sill, and,  pushing  up  the  sash,  thrust  in  his 
head. 

At  this  moment  two  or  three  quick  screams 
and  outcries.  "  Thieves !  murder  !  help  !  "  evi- 
dently from  a  female  voice,  broke  upon  our  hor- 
rified ears.  They  were  followed  by  a  rough 


232  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

voice  demanding  with  an  oath  what  we  wanted. 
It  was  no  time  for  explanations.  And  in  fact 
none  were  needed  by  us.  We  had  mistaken  a 
dwelling  for  a  school-house,  and  were  breaking 
into  a  bedroom,  —  that  was  all.  The  Assyrian, 
expecting  each  instant  a  pistol-shot  or  a  blow  on 
his  head  from  out  of  the  darkness,  let  go  the  sash, 
which,  in  its  desf  ent,  struck  off  his  new  hat,  which 
fell,  of  course,  within  the  room.  He  then  dropped 
himself  to  the  ground,  and  we  all  ran  away  as  fast 
as  we  could,  not  caring  to  make  our  appearance  in 
Rockland  again  next  morning  in  the  character  of 
burglars  caught  in  the  act  of  breaking  into  a  dwell- 
ing-house at  Owl's  Head. 

We  again  took  refuge  in  the  cooper's  shop, 
congratulating  ourselves  that  it  was  not  the  fash- 
ion on  the  coast  of  Maine  to  sleep  with  pistols 
under  the  pillow,  and  wondering  at  the  taste 
which  led  people  to  build  their  dwellings  in  the 
same  fashion  that  they  did  their  school-houses. 
We  made  another  attempt  to  sleep  in  the-  shav- 
ings, but  the  cold  still  kept  us  awake.  We,  there- 
fore, again  descended  to  the  shore,  and,  after  long 
walking  on  the  beach,  found  a  boat  with  oars, 
which  some  fisherman  had  left  ready  to  go  out  in  to 
his  daily  task  at  dawn.  We  took  the  liberty  of 
borrowing  it,  and  were  soon  on  board  the  sloop. 
Stopping  merely  to  wake  the  Skipper  and  send 
him  back  with  the  borrowed  boat,  we  turned  into 
our  berths,  and,  wrapped  in  warm  blankets,  were 
soon  oblivious  of  all  our  troubles. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       233 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

FIRE   AND   WATER.— PULPIT    HARBOR.  — THE    CUSK.— 
A  STRANGE  FISH. 

THE  Professor  and  the  two  seamen,  who  had 
all  had  their  natural  share  of  sleep  while  the  rest 
of  us  were  wandering  dismally  in  the  midnight 
cold  and  darkness  of  Owl's  Head,  rose  at  four 
in  the  morning,  and  got  the  sloop  under  way 
wliile  we  yet  slept.  The  wind  at  starting  was 
moderate,  but  in  the  course  of  an  hour  it  had 
risen  to  a  gale,  accompanied  by  squalls  of  rain  and 
mist,  which  made  the  air  so  thick  that  the  land 
was  totally  hidden  from  sight,  and  the  pilot  could 
not  tell  where  to  steer.  The  pitching  of  the  ves- 
sel in  the  heavy  sea  aroused  me  a  little  after  five, 
and  leaving  the  Artist  and  the  Assyrian  asleep  in 
their  berths,  I  went  on  deck.  The  only  object 
in  sight,  beside  the  white  waves  and  the  driving 
clouds  that  enveloped  us,  was  a  schooner  ahead, 
pursuing  the  same  course  with  ourselves.  We 
were  at  the  entrance  to  Penobscot  Bay,  six  or 
seven  miles  from  the  mainland,  and  the  seamen 
thought  not  far  from  the  west  side  of  the  North 
Fox  Island. 

We  followed  the  schooner  for  a  mile  or  two, 
and  at  length  caught  sight  of  land  at  no  great 


234  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

distance,  which  proved  to  be  the  Fox  Island. 
The  schooner  kept  close  to  the  shore,  and  pres- 
ently disappeared  from  our  view  within  a  narrow 
opening  in  the  rocky  coast,  which  we  now  dimly 
perceived.  It  was  a  harbor  not  down  on  the 
charts,  and  unknown  to  our  seamen,  but  they  said 
that  as  the  schooner  had  got  in,  we  could  of  course 
follow,  and  it  was  not  advisable  to  keep  the  sea  in 
such  a  storm,  with  our  unsound  mast.  The  Pilot, 
who  by  this  time  had  got  his  great  iron  furnace 
ablaze  with  coals,  ready  for  cooking  breakfast,  now 
steered  for  the  entrance  of  the  harbor,  which  was 
very  narrow,  with  a  huge  black  rock  rising  right 
in  the  middle. 

This  narrow  channel  was  so  strikingly  pictu- 
resque, that  I  went  below  to  wake  the  Artist  and 
the  Assyrian,  leaving  the  Skipper  and  the  Pro- 
fessor standing  at  the  bows  vigilantly  scanning  the 
water  as  we  approached,  and  looking  out  sharply 
for  reefs  and  rocks,  of  which  they  occasionally 
gave  notice  to  the  Pilot.  I  had  succeeded,  by 
considerable  shaking  and  punching,  in  restoring 
the  sleepers  to  a  glimmering  of  consciousness, 
when  a  tremendous  uproar  on  deck  called  me 
to  the  companion-way  to  see  what  the  matter 
was. 

A  terrible  and  yet  laughable  sight  met  my  eyes. 
As  the  sloop  was  surging  on  into  the  entrance 
of  the  harbor,  the  Skipper  discovered  a  sunken 
reef  right  ahead  of  the  vessel.  He  shouted  to  the 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       235 

Pilot  to  put  his  helm  hard  up,  and  the  Professor 
ran  aft  to  assist  in  shifting  the  boom.  Before  he 
could  reach  the  stern  a  squall  struck  the  sloop, 
and  the  boom,  as  it  swung  over,  hit  the  Professor, 
who,  to  save  himself,  clung  to  the  spar,  and  was 
carried  half  over  the  side  of  the  vessel,  while,  at 
the  same  time,  the  boom  knocked  off  the  Pilot's 
hat.  To  this  particular  article  of  apparel  the  old 
man  had  a  special  attachment,  generated  probably 
by  the  long  series  of  years  during  which  it  had 
crowned  his  venerable  head.  He  therefore  with 
one  hand  made  a  desperate  grab  at  the  beaver, 
which  he  caught  ere  it  reached  the  water,  while 
with  the  other  he  pushed  out  the  boom,  to  which 
the  Professor  was  still  hanging,  with  his  heels 
clinging  to  the  rail  of  the  vessel.  The  Pilot,  at 
the  same  time,  gave  a  prodigious  kick  at  the  tiller 
to  put  it  hard  up,  but  missed  it,  and  hit  his  fur- 
nace, which  toppled  incontinently  over.  The 
glowing  coals  fell,  some  into  a  basket  of  shav- 
ings and  kindlings  under  the  bench,  which  runs 
around  the  cockpit,  and  these  highly  combustible 
materials  immediately  blazed  up ;  other  coals  set 
fire  to  the  dry  space  beneath  the  bench,  to  which 
the  rain  never  penetrated  ;  others  yet,  falling  upon 
the  wet  deck,  caused  a  great  gushing  up  of  steam 
and  smoke. 

This  was  precisely  the  aspect  of  affairs  when 
I  stuck  my  head  out  of  the  cabin,  followed  by  the 
half-asleep  Artist  and  Assyrian.  The  volumes 


236  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

of  flame  and  smoke  and  steam  that  whirled  in  our 
faces,  together  with  the  howling  of  the  storm  and 
the  frowning  look  of  the  black  rock  that  guards 
the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  to  which  we  were  so 
close  that  it  seemed  right  over  our  heads,  were 
well  calculated  to  give  a  slight  shock  to  our  nerves. 
So  sudden  and  unexpected  a  combination  of  the 
dangers  of  shipwreck  and  of  fire  at  sea  was  really 
exciting,  though  we  could  not  help  laughing  at 
the  droll  attitudes  into  which  the  wayward  boom 
had  knocked  our  friends. 

There  being  several  buckets  at  hand,  and  our 
vessel  so  low  in  the  water  that  we  could  fill  them 
by  merely  leaning  over  the  side,  the  fire  was 
easily  got  under,  and  the  sloop,  having  glided  past 
the  reef,  whose  presence  in  the  way  had  caused  the 
commotion,  and  which  she  cleared  with  a  slight 
touch  without  damage,  we  sailed  into  the  harbor, 
and  presently  were  in  still  water. 

This  harbor,  as  we  learned  afterward,  is  called 
Pulpit  Harbor,  from  the  great,  high,  isolated  rock 
at  the  entrance,  which  the  church-going  New- 
Englanders  have  likened  to  a  pulpit,  as  in  the 
case  of  so  many  other  "  pulpit-rocks "  on  their 
coast.  It  is  one  of  the  finest  havens  I  ever  saw, 
if  not  the  very  finest.  Except  the  narrow  en- 
trance it  was  land-locked,  and  as  calm  and  shel- 
tered as  an  inland  pond.  Its  diameter  seemed  to 
be  about  half  a  mile,  and  it  was  surrounded  by 
low  hills,  sloping  gently  to  the  water's  edge.  The 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       237 

summits  of  the  hills  were  covered  with  woods,  but 
on  their  cleared  and  grassy  slopes  cattle  and  sheep 
were  pasturing.  A  few  fishermen's  houses  were 
in  sight,  and  beside  the  schooner  we  had  followed 
in,  there  were  half  a  dozen  small  fishing-vessels 
at  anchor  in  front  of  the  hamlet. 

We  anchored  in  the  middle  of  the  harbor,  just 
opposite  the  entrance,  through  which  we  had  a 
view  of  the  turbulent  sea  without.  The  storm, 
however,  was  abating,  the  rain  had  ceased,  and  by 
the  time  we  had  finished  breakfast  the  sun  broke 
from  the  clouds.  Nowhere,  I  am  sure,  did  he 
smile  on  a  lovelier  or  more  peaceful  scene  of  rural 
beauty.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  exquisite  fresh- 
ness of  the  green  hillsides,  and  the  groves  that 
bounded  the  landward  view  were  a  tasteful  and 
natural  frame  to  the  picture.  Seaward,  we  looked 
as  through  some  mighty  portal,  half  in  ruins,  over 
the  black  and  jagged  rocks  of  the  entrance,  and 
thence  across  ten  miles  of  ocean  to  the  mainland, 
where  the  picturesque  Camden  Mountains  reared 
their  bold  summits  in  full  view.  These  mountains 
are  not  far  from  the  shore,  and  form  a  remark- 
ably beautiful,  though  short  and  isolated  range, 
rising  to  the  height  of  fifteen  hundred  feet  above 
the  surrounding  plain.  They  lie  directly  opposite 
the  entrance  to  Pulpit  Harbor. 

To  complete  the  charm  of  the  landscape,  a  num- 
ber of  large  fish-hawks,  whose  huge  fagot-like 
nests  we  could  see  through  the  telescope  on  the 


238  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

branches  of  a  grove  of  tall  pines,  were  wheeling 
high  in  the  air  with  their  wings  wide  extended 
and  apparently  motionless,  watching  a  school  of 
mackerel  near  Pulpit  Rock,  and  occasionally  de- 
scending and  seizing  fishes,  which  they  carried  to 
their  nests,  uttering  as  they  went  fierce  screams 
of  triumph  and  delight. 

About  the  middle  of  the  forenoon  the  Assyrian 
remembered  the  schnapps  he  had  purchased  at 
Rockland.  He  looked  around  the  cabin  for  it, 
but  the  package  was  nowhere  visible.  He  exam- 
ined the  lockers  and  poked  about  the  fore-peak. 
It  was  not  to  be  found.  Proceeding  to  the  dock, 
he  hailed  the  Skipper,  who  was  just  going  ashore 
for  water,  and  had  already  got  a  few  strokes  of  his 
oars  from  the  sloop,  and  asked  him  what  he  had 
done  with  the  schnapps  ? 

"  Schnapps,"  repeated  the  Skipper,  slowly  back- 
ing water,  and  evidently  wondering  what  scrape 
he  had  got  into  now.  "  I  don't  know  anything 
about  schnapps.  There  has  n't  been  any  schnapps 
on  board."  And  he  came  alongside.  The  As- 
syrian signed  to  him  to  remain,  and  for  a  few  mo- 
ments hung  down  his  head  as  if  lost  in  thought. 
At  last  he  spoke  :  "  I  remember  now,  —  I  left  the 
package  in  that  infernal  cooper's  shop  at  Owl's 
Head.  The  fates  are  against  me.  I  shall  drink 
water  for  the  rest  of  the  cruise."  And  stepping 
into  the  dory  to  avoid  our  gibes,  he  told  the  Skip- 
per he  would  go  with  him  to  the  nearest  spring, 
and  make  trial  of  his  new  beverage. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       239 

While  they  were  absent,  we  got  out  our  lines 
and  fished.  The  water  was  very  deep  and  fish 
abundant.  We  caught  cod,  haddock,  whiting, 
skate,  and  a  large  Greenland  sculpin,  a  handsome 
monster  with  a  dark-brown  back,  and  sides  and 
belly  adorned  with  circular  spots  of  yellow  and 
white.  We  caught  also  a  smaller  specimen  of  the 
sculpin  family,  or  of  some  species  akin  to  it,  which 
the  Professor  thought  was  a  bullhead.  It  was 
about  six  inches  in  length,  and  was  of  a  light- 
brown  color,  with  half  a  dozen  dark  bands  passing 
around  it. 

A  fish  resembling  a  hake,  of  which  we  caught 
several,  the  largest  thirty  inches  in  length,  and 
five  pounds  in  weight,  the  Pilot  called  a  cusk. 
The  liver,  he  said,  was  full  of  oil  of  a  kind  good 
for  burns.  Its  color  throughout  was  that  of  dark 
slate.  Its  head  was  covered  with  rough  scales. 
The  mouth  was  large,  and  the  jaws  filled  with 
sharp  teeth.  The  back  fin  and  the  tail  fin  were 
edged  with  blue  and  white.  This  fish  is  not  com- 
mon on  our  coast,  and  in  winter  sells  in  Boston 
market  for  twice  as  much  as  the  cod.  In  Great 
Britain  it  is  called  the  torsk,  or  tusk,  and  seems  to 
frequent  only  the  northern  shores  of  the  island. 
It  is  caught  among  the  Orkney  Islands,  and  plen- 
tifully near  Shetland.  Still  farther  north  it  is 
very  abundant,  especially  on  the  coasts  of  Iceland, 
Norway,  and  the  Faroe  Islands.  As  its  stomach 
is  usually  found  empty,  there  is  a  notion  among 


240  A  SUMMER   CRUISE   ON 

the  European  fishermen  that  it  lives  on  the  juice 
of  sea-weeds.  We  had  the  cusk  cooked  for  din- 
ner, and  found  its  flesh  firm  to  toughness,  but  sa- 
vory enough.  When  salted,  the  Pilot  said  some 
people  preferred  it  to  cod,  as  the  flesh  swells 
much  in  boiling,  and  divides  into  thick  flakes. 

The  Skipper  and  the  Assyrian  not  having  re- 
turned when  dinner  was  nearly  ready,  we  sounded 
the  horn  to  recall  them.  They  obeyed  the  sum- 
mons, and  during  dinner  the  Assyrian  descanted 
on  the  beauties  of  North  Fox  Island,  which  he 
declared  to  be  the  finest  island  ,he  had  yet  seen. 
A  winding  strait  about  a  mile  broad  separates  it 
from  the  South  Fox  Island.  This  strait  is  called 
the  Thoroughfare,  and  coasters  and  fishing-vessels 
often  pass  through  it.  The  island  was  well  stocked 
with  sheep,  and  the  flowers  were  peculiarly  bril- 
liant in  hue  from  the  effect  of  sea  air.  The  Assy- 
rian had  parleyed  with  sundry  of  the  people,  who 
lived,  he  said,  in  very  good  houses ;  and  he  had 
learned  that  the  island  formed  the  town  of  North 
Haven,  —  that  it  contained  eight  hundred  inhab- 
itants, four  small  villages,  as  many  stores,  one 
church,  and  eleven  school-houses,  —  and,  lastly, 
that  its  staple  product  was  hay.  The  only  natural 
curiosity  was  a  huge  rocking-bowlder,  on  the  top 
of  a  hill  adjoining  Pulpit  Harbor. 

After  dinner,  the  Artist  and  I  went  with  the 
Professor  in  the  dory  to  dredge  near  the  mouth 
of  the  harbor.  Before  we  began,  the  beauty  of 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.      241 

the  sea-weeds  on  a  ledge  near  by  us  attracted  our 
attention,  and  we  landed  on  the  rocks,  and  gath- 
ered a  great  quantity  of 

"  These  many-colored,  variegated  forms,  — 
Broideries  strange, 

Wrought  by  the  sea-nymphs  from  their  golden  hair, 
And  wove  by  moonlight. 

From  narrow  cells  scooped  in  the  rocks,  we  take 
These  fairy  textures,  lightly  moored  at  morn. 
Down  sunny  slopes,  outstretching  to  the  deep, 
We  roam  at  noon,  and  gather  shapes  like  these. 
Note  now  the  painted  webs  from  verdurous  isles, 
Festooned  and  spangled  in  sea-caves,  and  say 
What  hues  of  land  can  rival  tints  like  these, 
Torn  from  the  scarfs  and  gonfalons  of  kings 
Who  dwell  beneath  the  waters  1 " 

The  result  of  our  dredging  was  a  few  fine  speci- 
mens of  sea-cucumbers,  the  largest  we  had  yet 
seen. 

About  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  a  great 
school  of  mackerel  came  into  the  harbor,  and  we 
all  got  into  the  dory,  except  the  seamen,  and 
anchored  alongside  of  Pulpit  Rock,  to  intercept 
them  as  they  came  out.  Our  bait,  which  we 
threw  out  by  handfuls,  soon  attracted  them,  and 
a  lively  scene  ensued.  For  about  half  an  hour 
we  pulled  in  mackerel  as  fast  as  we  could  throw 
out  and  haul  in  our  lines.  After  catching  upward 
of  a  hundred,  we  desisted,  as  we  really  did  not 
know  what  to  do  with  the  fish,  and  did  not  care 
to  capture  them  merely  to  throw  back  into  the 
sea. 

11  p 


242  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

A  thunder-storm  confined  us  to  the  sloop  for 
the  rest  of  the  day.  Before  sundown  it  cleared 
up,  and  as  the  setting  sun  descended  directly  be- 
hind the  opposite  mountains,  we  were  favored 
with  a  strange  and  magnificent  spectacle.  After 
the  storm,  the  sky  had  become  perfectly  clear 
of  clouds,  except  a  dense  mass  that  rested  on  the 
mountain  peaks.  As  the  sun  went  down,  these 
clouds  gathered  around  the  summit  of  Magunti- 
cook,  the  loftiest  peak  of  the  mountains,  and  as- 
sumed the  form  of  a  crown,  which  was  presently 
suffused  and  glorified  with  a  rich  rosy  hue.  For 
nearly  half  an  hour  this  superb  circlet  remained 
motionless  on  the  brow  of  the  mountain,  till  it 
gradually  melted  away  as  the  shades  of  evening 
advanced. 

Before  the  twilight  vanished  we  began  to  fish, 
as  the  Professor  thought  we  might  find  the  place 
abundant  in  hake.  In  a  few  minutes  I  hauled  up 
a  lobster,  in  whose  tail  my  hook  had  somehow  got 
fast.  It  was  in  fine  condition,  and  weighed  twelve 
pounds.  As  we  had  been  for  some  days  without 
lobster,  the  unlucky  crustacean  went  at  once  into 
the  Pilot's  pot. 

We  were  catching  whiting  pretty  freely,  when, 
just  as  it  was  growing  dark,  an  exclamation  of 
surprise  from  the  Assyrian  called  us  to  his  side. 
He  had  caught  what  we  at  first  glance  supposed 
to  be  a  conger-eel.  But,  on  looking  closely,  it 
proved  to  be  a  fish  of  the  sculpin  family,  and  of  an 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       243 

entirely  new  and  strange  species.  It  was  so  queer 
and  savage-looking  that  none  of  us  ventured  to 
touch  it  or  take  it  from  the  hook.  We  inspected 
and  measured  it  while  the  Assyrian  held  it  at 
arm's  length,  and,  after  we  had  satisfied  our  curi- 
osity, the  Professor  brought  out  a  keg  of  alcohol, 
over  which  he  held  it,  and  cutting  the  fish-line,  let 
it  drop  into  the  preserving  fluid.  Its  body  was 
shaped  like  that  of  an  eel,  but  its  head  was  square 
and  blunt,  with  an  almost  human  face.  It  had 
a  steady,  stony  expression  in  its  deep-set  eyes. 
Its  length  was  thirty  inches,  and  its  circumference 
eight  inches.  But  its  most  remarkable  peculiarity 
was  its  color,  which  was  a  ghastly  white,  except  at 
the  tail,  where  it  shaded  into  a  rosy  hue. 

There  is  no  fish  like  this  described  by  any 
writer  on  ichthyology,  and  none  of  us  had  ever 
seen  anything  of  the  sort  before.  The  Pilot,  who 
had  fished  in  our  waters  for  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury, declared  that  he  had  never  seen  or  heard 
of  such  a  creature  in  all  his  experience.  Subse- 
quently, during  the  cruise,  we  showed  it  to  a  great 
number  of  fishermen,  none  of  whom,  however, 
had  ever  seen  any  fish  like  it.  On  turning  in  that 
night,  we  left  our  baited  lines  hanging  over  the 
vessel's  side,  and  in  the  morning  found  we  had 
caught  a  fish  resembling  the  other  in  everything, 
except  that  it  was  of  a  lead  color  instead  of  a  pale 
white. 


244  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

FLAPJACKS.  — DEER    ISLAND.  — A    DRUNKEN   PILOT 

TO  MOUNT  DESERT. 

I  WENT  on  deck  before  sunrise  next  morning, 
to  see  how  Pulpit  Harbor  looked  at  that  hour. 
The  weather  was  clear  and  mild,  and  the  Megun- 
ticook  peaks  were  tipped  with  the  rosy  hues  of 
dawn,  while  we  lay  still  in  deep  shadow.  I  found 
the  Pilot  sitting  on  the  taffrail,  pipe  in  mouth,  and 
absorbed  in  the  study  of  the  bewildering  inscrip- 
tions on  a  package  of  yeast-powder  which  he  had 
bought  in  Portland.  He  was  evidently  meditating 
some  great  stroke  of  culinary  art.  By  much  se- 
vere scrutiny  and  some  muttered  spelling,  he  at 
last  mastered  the  directions  on  the  package,  and 
proceeded  to  open  it  with  the  air  of  a  man  who 
knew  what  he  was  about.  I  ventured  to  inquire 
what  was  in  the  wind.  He  answered,  with  his 
wonted  brevity  and  directness,  "  Flapjacks." 

By  the  time  the  flapjacks  were  concocted  and 
the  frying-pan  ready  for  their  reception,  we  were 
all  on  deck  and  intently  observing  the  process  of 
preparing  them.  The  old  man  poured  a  quantity 
of  the  batter  into  his  pan,  which  was  already  siz- 
zling with  fat,  and  when  the  huge  cake  was  suffi- 
ciently done,  proceeded  to  turn  it  with  a  knife. 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND,       245 

He  did  not  succeed  very  well  in  this  difficult  oper- 
ation, and  the  Assyrian  remonstrated  : 

"  That 's  a  lubberly  way  of  doing  it,  Uncle 
Widger.  You  should  loosen  the  flapjack  with 
your  knife,  and  then,  taking  the  frying-pan  in 
your  hand,  throw  the  flapjack  into  the  air  in  such 
a  way  that  it  will  turn  a  summersault  and  come 
down  soft  side  into  the  pan.  That 's  the  way  to 
turn  flapjacks." 

"  I  should  like  to  see  you  do  it,"  said  the  old 
man. 

"  Do  it !  "  rejoined  the  confident  Assyrian  ;  "  I 
can  do  it  as  easy  as  I  can  eat  the  flapjack  after  it 
is  done.  Here,  let  me  take  your  knife  and  I  '11 
show  you  the  trick." 

He  carefully  loosened  the  flapjack  from  the  bot- 
tom of  the  pan,  and  then,  seizing  the  handle  with 
both  hands,  while  we  stood  aside  to  give  him 
room,  he  tossed  up  the  frying-pan  with  consider- 
able force,  giving  at  the  same  time  a  scientific 
twist  to  his  wrists  for  the  purpose  of  making  the 
flapjack  turn  over  in  the  air,  while  he  stood  ready 
to  catch  it.  Unluckily,  this  last  flourish  was  not 
successful,  for  the  flapjack,  instead  of  falling  per- 
pendicularly, went  with  a  slant  over  the  stern  into 
the  sea. 

The  discomfited  Assyrian  made  no  attempt  to 
retrieve  this  disaster  by  trying  again,  but  silently 
handed  back  the  frying-pan  to  the  Pilot,  and  took 
refuge  in  the  cabin.  The  mirth  of  the  old  man 


246  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

at  his  instructor's  failure  was  pleasant  to  behold. 
He  laughed  and  chuckled  with  infinite  glee,  and 
though  he  made  great  efforts  to  suppress  his  mer- 
riment and  preserve  a  sober  aspect,  his  delight  ran 
over  perpetually  at  his  eyes  and  would  break  out 
every  few  minutes  into  a  sudden  roar.  It  was 
not  till  breakfast  was  over,  and  we  had  made  sail 
and  got  out  of  the  harbor  and  on  the  open  sea, 
that  he  resumed  his  wonted  gravity. 

Our  course  was  northeast,  toward  Deer  Island, 
on  the  eastern  side  of  Penobscot  Bay.  This  island 
is  ten  miles  long  by  five  miles  broad,  and  has  two 
or  three  thousand  inhabitants.  We  sailed  for  sev- 
eral hours  through  a  group  of  smaller  islands, 
steering  for  a  channel,  which,  on  the  chart,  ran 
between  Deer  Island  and  Little  Deer  Island,  and 
communicated  with  Edgemoggin  Reach.  On 
reaching  the  spot  indicated  on  the  chart  as  a  nav- 
igable strait,  we  found  it,  to  our  astonishment,  dry 
land,  and  were  forced  to  come  to  anchor  near  a 
number  of  fishing-vessels  which,  like  ourselves, 
had  apparently  been  caught  in  this  trap. 

On  inquiry  we  learned  that  the  strait  was  pass- 
able only  at  high  water,  and,  while  waiting  for 
the  tide  to  rise,  the  Professor  and  the  Assyrian 
went  out  in  the  dory  to  dredge,  while  the  Artist 
and  I  rambled  over  the  rocky  bottom  of  the  chan- 
nel through  which,  when  it  should  be  filled  by 
the  tide,  our  vessel  was  to  sail  into  Edgemoggin 
Reach.  It  was  a  broad,  irregular,  ragged  chasm, 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       247 

worn  apparently  by  the  action  of  the  water,  and 
its  high,  rocky  shores  were  honey-combed  with 
caves  and  gullies.  Behind  a  huge  promontory,  at 
which  our  stroll  terminated,  we  found  about  a 
dozen  young  ladies  arrayed  in  pantaloons  and  long 
leather  boots,  hard  at  work  digging  clams,  which 
they  put  into  baskets  and  carried  on  their  should- 
ers to  a  large  scow  lying  in  the  mud  not  far  off. 

They  were  a  lively  set  of  damsels,  and  had  a 
pleasant  propensity  for  playing  practical  jokes 
upon  each  other  of  rather  a  rough  sort.  We 
amused  ourselves  by  watching  their  gambols  and 
their  labors,  and  by  retorting  the  occasional  gibes 
with  which  they  favored  us,  until  the  rising  tide 
obliged  them  to  desist  from  work.  After  a  s.mart 
skirmish  among  themselves,  in  which  their  baskets 
and  handfuls  of  mud  were  freely  used  as  missiles, 
they  embarked  in  their  scow  and  rowed  away, 
with  a  parting  injunction  to  us  to  go  home  to  our 
anxious  mothers  in  time  for  tea. 

At  2  P.  M.  it  was  high  tide,  and  the  Skipper, 
who  had  been  on  shore  seeking  for  a  pilot,  came 
on  board  with  one  of  the  Deer-Islanders,  a  singu- 
larly queer-looking  fellow,  who  had  offered  for 
half  a  dollar  to  navigate  the  sloop  through  the 
channel.  We  hoisted  sail  immediately,  and,  with 
a  boisterous  wind,  were  soon  scudding  over  the 
places  on  which  I  had  walked  dry-shod  but  a  few 
hours  before.  It  was  a  sufficiently  perilous  pas- 
sage. There  was  little  enough  water  anywhere, 


248  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

and  the  channel  was  diversified  by  huge  patches 
of  rock,  some  sunken  and  others  rising  to  the 
surface.  Our  new  pilot,  instead  of  attending  to 
his  duty,  gave  himself  wholly  up  to  the  contem- 
plation of  a  heap  of  sea-cucumbers,  the  fruit  of 
the  Professor's  dredging,  which  lay  on  deck.  He 
was  very  voluble  when  he  first  came  on  board,  but 
the  moment  his  eyes  lighted  on  these  strange  ani- 
mals he  was  struck  dumb  with  astonishment.  He 
fell  on  his  hands  and  knees  before  the  heap,  which 
he  scrutinized  in  every  possible  way,  by  handling, 
smelling,  and  touching  with  his  tongue.  Mean- 
time we  were  running  at  a  furious  rate  amid  rocks 
and  shoals,  which  the  old  Pilot  at  the  helm  was 
avoiding  as  best  he  could,  until  the  anxious  Skip- 
per, forgetting  in  alarm  for  our  safety  his  habitual 
politeness,  touched  the  new-comer  with  his  foot, 
and  told  him  to  get  up  and  mind  his  business. 

He  rose  reluctantly  to  his  feet,  his  eyes  still 
fixed  on  the  sea-cucumbers,  exclaiming,  "  Lor-a- 
mighty,  gosh  ninety,  what  ar  ye  going  to  do  with 
them  ?  " 

"  Cook  'em,"  said  the  Assyrian,  who  had  been 
eying  the  fellow  with  intense  disgust,  "  and  if  we 
get  on  the  rocks  we  '11  cook  you.  So  you  had  bet- 
ter look  out  sharp." 

The  hint  was  taken,  and  the  islander,  withdraw- 
ing his  gaze  from  the  sea-cucumbers,  glanced  at 
the  surrounding  waters,  and  presently  gave  to  our 
old  Pilot  some  directions  how  to  steer.  Here  a 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       249 

new  difficulty  arose.  The  old  man  did  not  com- 
prehend the  terms  used  by  the  new-comer,  and 
for  a  while  great  confusion  and  uproar  raged  on 
the  sloop,  which  seemed  likely  to  terminate  only 
in  her  going  to  pieces  on  the  rocks.  The  two 
pilots  grew  angry  and  excited,  and  bawled  their 
mutual  wrath  at  each  other  from  the  adverse  ends 
of  the  vessel,  till  the  Skipper  interposed,  and  took 
upon  himself  the  part  of  interpreter. 

For  a  little  while  everything  went  well  enough, 
till  the  irresistible  sea-cucumbers  again  attracted 
the  islander's  attention.  Quitting  his  post  at  the 
bow,  he  ran  to  the  heap,  and  fell  again  on  his 
knees  to  examine  them,  asking,  at  the  same  time, 
a  volley  of  incoherent  questions.  The  irritated 
Skipper,  seizing  him  by  the  arm,  led  him  back  to 
the  bow,  where  he  talked  to  him  earnestly  for  a 
minute  or  two,  and  then  came  aft  to  the  cockpit, 
where  we  were  all  gathered.  "  The  fellow  's  as 
drunk  as  a  loon,"  he  whispered  to  us  through  his 
set  teeth.  "  I  did  n't  find  it  out  till  just  now. 
'T  will  be  a  wonder  if  we  ever  get  safe  into  the 
Reach  with  such  a  chap  for  pilot." 

Here  was  a  pleasant  prospect,  truly  !  The  wind 
was  blowing  almost  a  gale,  and,  as  we  knew  by 
our  own  examination  while  the  tide  was  out,  the 
channel  through  which  we  were  passing  abounded 
with  reefs  and  shoals.  The  soberest  Palinurus 
would  have  found  it  hard  enough,  apparently,  to 
guide  a  vessel  through,  and  we  were  trusting  to 
11* 


250     .          A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

the  skill  of  a  drunken  loafer,  whose  wits,  at  the 
best,  were  evidently  none  of  the  brightest  or 
steadiest.  To  do  the  fellow  justice,  however,  he 
did  know  the  channel  perfectly,  and  we  got  at  last 
safely  into  Edgemoggin  Reach,  a  broad  sound  run- 
ning for  several  miles  between  Deer  Island  and  the 
mainland.  With  this  sound  our  seamen  were  well 
acquainted,  and  beside,  we  had  a  good  chart  of  it, 
so  that  we  needed  no  further  pilotage. 

There  was  something  in  the  aspect  of  the  Deer- 
Islander  which  strongly  excited  the  ire  of  the 
Assyrian,  who  stepped  up  to  him  as  he  was  about 
to  get  into  the  dory  to  be  rowed  ashore  by  the 
Skipper.  Taking  him  gently  by  the  throat,  he 
solemnly  admonished  him  never  again  to  under- 
take, while  drunk,  to  act  as  pilot,  assuring  him 
that  he  had  run  a  very  close  chance  of  being  flung 
overboard,  and  might  not,  on  a  second  like  occa- 
sion, escape  so  easily.  He  gave  him  a  few  shakes 
to  settle  this  advice  in  his  memory,  and  then 
politely  assisted  him  into  the  dory,  which  the  Skip- 
per was  holding  alongside. 

The  fellow  appeared  to  be  somewhat  abashed  by 
the  Assyrian's  parting  injunction,  and  for  a  mo- 
ment hung  his  head  in  silence.  But,  before  the 
Skipper  had  rowed  a  dozen  strokes,  the  islander 
suddenly  resumed  his  confident  air,  and,  calling  to 
his  companion  to  back  water,  as  if  he  had  forgotten 
something,  stood  up  in  the  stern  of  the  boat,  with 
much  difficulty  keeping  his  balance,  and  addressed 
us  with  drunken  gravity :  — 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.      251 

"  I  say,  can't  you  give  me  some  of  them  cow- 
cumbers  to  take  hum  to  my  old  woman  ?  " 

We  lay-to  till  the  Skipper  returned,  and  then 
made  a  splendid  run  down  Edgemoggin  Reach, 
which,  from  one  end  to  the  other,  was  white  with 
foam.  There  cannot  be  a  finer  sheet  of  water  in 
the  world  than  this  Reach,  which  is  bounded  on 
every  side  by  superb  views.  Far  before  us,  on 
the  right,  rose  the  blue  summit  of  Isle  Haut,  as 
the  early  French  navigators  named  it,  —  a  moun- 
tain rising  from  the  waves.  Before  us  the  peaks 
of  Mount  Desert  came  gradually  into  view,  at 
first  misty  and  blue,  then  green  and  wooded, 
until,  as  we  advanced,  still  loftier  summits  showed 
themselves  in  grim  and  stony  desolation. 


252  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

MOUNT  DESERT.  — BASS  HARBOR.  —  AN  UNBENDING 
DEACON.  — BAR  HARBOR.  —  FAREWELL  TO  EDEN.— 
END  OF  THE  CRUISE. 

THE  approach  to  Mount  Desert  by  sea  is  mag- 
nificent. The  island  is  a  mass  of  mountains 
crowded  together,  and  seemingly  rising  from  the 
water.  As  you  draw  near,  they  resolve  them- 
selves into  thirteen  distinct  peaks,  the  highest 
of  which  is  about  two  thousand  feet  above  the 
neighboring  ocean.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive 
of  any  finer  combination  of  land  and  water  than 
this  view,  which  has  been  admirably  painted  by 
Charles  Dix.  Certainly  only  in  the  tropics  can 
it  be  excelled,  —  only  in  the  gorgeous  islands 
of  the  Indian  and  Pacific  Oceans.  On  the  coast 
of  America  it  has  no  rival,  except,  perhaps,  at  the 
Bay  of  Rio  Janeiro. 

None  of  us  knew  anything  of  the  localities  of 
Mount  Desert,  and  we  therefore  put  into  the  first 
harbor  that  we  saw  on  the  coast,  which  proved  to 
be  Bass  Harbor.  We  landed  about  sunset,  and, 
not  finding  the  village  very  attractive,  the  Assy- 
rian, the  Artist,  and  I  started  for  Southwest 
Harbor,  which  was  described  to  us  as  the  place 
of  most  resort  on  the  island.  The  Professor, 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       253 

wishing  to  dredge  in  these  waters,  which  were 
new  to  him,  preferred  to  remain  on  board  with 
the  seamen,  —  promising  to  bring  the  sloop  around 
to  Southwest  Harbor  next  day. 

We  could  not  obtain  at  Bass  Harbor  any  con- 
veyance, —  all  the  horses  of  the  place  being  absent 
on  some  rustic  excursion.  So  we  walked  through 
the  forest  for  several  miles,  after  dark,  and  for  the 
last  hour  of  the  way  had  a  fine  night- view  of  the 
mountains,  serene  and  solemn  in  the  mystical  star- 
light. About  11  P.  M.  we  reached  our  destina- 
tion, —  a  public  house,  kept  by  a  deacon,  which 
had  been  recommended  to  us  at  Bass  Harbor. 
We  were  cold,  hungry,  and  exceedingly  tired, 
and  our  hearts  sank  as  we  saw,  on  approaching 
the  house,  which  we  recognized  by  the  descrip- 
tion that  had  been  given  us,  that  no  light  was 
visible,  and  that  apparently  everybody  had  gone 
to  bed. 

"  If  they  sleep  here  as  soundly  as  they  do  at 
Owl's  Head,"  said  the  Assyrian,  as  he  pounded 
the  front  door  with  his  fist,  "  our  prospects  of 
going  to  bed  supperless  may  be  pronounced  first- 
rate.  At  all  events,  I  give  you  fair  notice  I  shall 
attempt  no  more  school-houses." 

Our  apprehensions  were  groundless.  The  land- 
lord speedily  appeared,  having  fortunately  just  got 
into  bed  as  we  began  to  knock.  He  took  us  into 
the  kitchen,  which  was  tolerably  warm,  and  pro- 
duced some  cold  meat  and  apple-pie.  The  As- 


254  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

Syrian,  considering  the  cruise  at  an  end  as  soon  as 
we  landed  on  Mount  Desert,  had  already  taken 
back  his  verbal  pledge  of  abstinence  made  at  Pul- 
pit Harbor,  and  was  desirous  of  warming  himself 
with  something  more  heating  than  water.  He 
therefore  meekly  asked  the  landlord  if  he  could  n't 
give  us  something  to  drink. 

The  deacon  smiled,  and  suggested  milk. 

"I  have  a  weak  stomach,"  said  the  Assyrian, 
"  and  never  drink  anything  so  strong  as  milk." 

The  deacon  smiled  still  more  blandly,  and  his 
smile  expanded  into  a  slight  laugh  as  he  proposed 
cold  tea. 

"  Bah  !  "  said  the  disgusted  Assyrian  ;  "  why 
don't  you  offer  us  dishwater  at  once.  Can't  you 
give  us  some  whiskey  ?  " 

"No." 

"  Brandy  ?  " 

«  No." 

"Ale?  — cider?" 

"  No,  —  nothing  of  the  kind." 

The  deacon  was  inflexible,  and  we  went  to  bed 
in  a  state  of  the  most  perfect  sobriety. 

Next  morning,  after  breakfast,  we  hired  of  the 
deacon  a  one-horse  wagon,  and  a  quiet-looking 
beast  of  a  mare,  to  convey  us  to  Bar  Harbor  on 
the  northeast  side  of  the  island,  which  we  had  satis- 
fied ourselves  by  inquiry  of  the  deacon's  guests  was 
the  best  place  to  stop  at,  if  we  desired  to  be  near 
the  finest  scenery.  A  drive  of  several  miles  over 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       255 

a  rough  mountain-road  brought  us  to  Somesville, 
a  village  at  the  head  of  a  broad  sound  which  runs 
up  from  the  ocean  several  miles.  Here  we  dined 
at  the  house  of  a  publican,  who  was  also  a  sinner, 
for,  being  a  Democrat,  he  held  the  Maine  Law  at 
defiance,  and  openly  gloried  in  the  impunity  with 
which  he  daily  violated  it,  though  he  had  been  re- 
peatedly harassed  with  prosecutions. 

After  dinner,  we  drove  for  several  miles  through 
a  forest  where  nothing  living  was  visible  but  squir- 
rels, rabbits,  partridges,  and  an  occasional  eagle 
soaring  overhead.  We  passed  no  house,  nor  sign 
of  human  handiwork,  except  a  ruined  mill,  near 
which,  as  we  descended  a  steep  hill,  the  harness 
of  our  conveyance  broke.  The  deacon's  mare, 
which  up  to  this  moment  had  been  the  most  ami- 
able and  exemplary  of  animals,  now  manifested  a 
frightful  perversity  of  disposition.  After  a  vigor- 
ous attempt  to  run  away,  which  was  baffled  by 
turning  her  head  into  the  bushes  that  lined  the 
road,  she  suddenly  stood  stock  still,  and  com- 
menced kicking  with  her  hind  legs,  with  a  force, 
precision,  and  rapidity  that  resembled  more  the 
working  of  a  powerful  machine  than  anything  of 
the  animal  nature.  It  was  admirable  to  witness, 
but  extremely  inconvenient  to  submit  to.  In  a 
minute  the  front  part  of  the  wagon  was  dashed  to 
splinters,  and  the  Artist  and  I,  who  occupied  the 
front  seat,  the  Artist  driving,  were  both  badly 
bruised.  We  jumped  out,  and  succeeded  in  quiet- 


256  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

ing  the  mare,  though  not  till  the  harness  was 
broken  in  half  a  dozen  places. 

As  we  were  yet  three  or  four  miles  from  Bar 
Harbor,  and  there  was  no  house  for  several  miles 
behind  us,  and  we  had  not  a  particle  of  cord  or 
string  with  which  to  mend  the  harness,  we  found 
ourselves  in  something  of  a  dilemma.  Just  at  this 
moment  a  wagon,  the  first  we  had  seen  during  the 
day's  ride,  approached  from  the  direction  of  Bar 
Harbor.  There  were  two  men  in  it,  who  stopped 
as  they  came  to  the  scene  of  our  disaster.  The 
Assyrian  uttered  an  exclamation,  and  sprang  for- 
ward with  outstretched  hands.  They  were  class- 
mates of  his,  whom  he  had  not  seen  since  he  left 
college,  years  before,  and  whom  he  least  of  all  ex- 
pected to  meet  on  a  lonely  road  in  the  heart  of 
the  hills  of  Mount  Desert. 

The  rencounter  was  exceedingly  opportune. 
They  were  guests  at  Bar  Harbor,  whither  we 
were  bound,  and  they  were  now  on  their  way  to 
a  lake,  high  up  among  the  mountains,  to  fish  for 
trout.  With  the  aid  of  their  lines  we  repaired  the 
harness,  and  parting  from  our  friends,  who  prom- 
ised to  bring  us  a  mess  of  trout  for  supper,  made 
our  way  without  further  impediment  to  Bar  Har- 
bor, where  we  found  excellent  quarters  in  the 
house  of  Mr.  Roberts,  the  Postmaster  and  princi- 
pal trader  of  the  village.  At  this  place,  which 
adjoins  the  finest  scenery  of  the  island,  we  spent 
two  days  exploring  the  recesses  of  Otter  Creek, 


THE   COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       257 

whose  wild  mountain-passes  equal  in  grandeur  the 
Notch  of  the  White  Hills,  and  rambling  about  the 
gigantic  cliffs  of  Great  Head,  Schooner  Head,  and 
the  other  bold  rocky  promontories  rising  for  hun- 
dreds of  feet  directly  from  the  sea,  which  make 
the  island  so  fascinating  to  the  landscape  and  ma- 
rine painter. 

Mount  Desert  has  an  area  of  about  a  hundred 
square  miles,  and  is  divided  into  three  towns,  — 
Tremont,  Eden,  and  Mount  Desert.  The  popula- 
tion is  not  far  from  seven  thousand,  and  a  large 
part  of  the  island  is  under  cultivation.  The  north- 
ern part  especially  is  remarkable  for  rural  beauty ; 
but  the  centre  and  southeast  portions  remain  in 
native  wildness,  and  are  yet  the  haunt  of  the  deer 
and  the  bear,  though  the  latter  animal  is  now 
rarely  met  with. 

The  sublime  and  romantic  appearance  of  the 
island  from  the  sea,  on  which  its  mountains  are 
visible  to  a  great  distance,  naturally  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  earliest  European  navigators  on 
our  coast,  and  it  figures  prominently  in  the  narra- 
tives of  the  first  French  and  English  explorers. 
According  to  some  accounts,  a  French  colony  and 
mission  was  established  there  as  early  as  1608,  on 
the  western  side  of  the  Sound,  and  flourished  for 
five  years  or  more,  till  it  was  destroyed  by  the 
English.  There  is  a  picture  of  the  ruins  of  this 
settlement,  and  of  the  grave  of  the  Jesuit  Du 
Thet,  in  the  Alnambay  Uli  Awikhigan,  a  Catholic 


258  A  SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

prayer-book,  published  in  New  York  in  1858,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Penobscot,  Passamaquoddy, 
Micmac,  and  other  tribes  of  the  Abnaki  Indians, 
in  whose  language  it  is  written.  The  first  perma- 
nent settlement,  however,  of  Mount  Desert  was 
made  by  Abraham  Somes,  in  1761,  from  whom 
the  Sound,  at  the  head  of  which  he  built  his 
house,  is  to  this  day  locally  known  as  Somes's 
Sound. 

Of  late  years,  Mount  Desert  has  become  a  fa- 
vorite resort  for  artists  and  for  sea- side  summer 
loungers.  But  it  needs  the  hand  of  cultivated 
taste  .for  the  full  development  of  its  matchless 
natural  beauties,  which,  at  present,  are  to  a  great 
degree  hidden  by  the  monotonous  covering  of  an 
American  forest  of  the  secondary  growth.  The 
"forest  primeval"  has  been  cut  down,  and  the 
woods  that  have  succeeded  it  have  neither  grand- 
eur nor  variety.  Half  a  century  of  judicious 
clearing,  and  still  more  judicious  sparing  of  the 
trees  where  they  ought  to  be  spared,  surround- 
ing these  savage  mountains  with  lovely  glades 
and  charming,  yet  stately  groves,  converting  the 
swamps  into  rich  meadows,  and  creating  a  pictu- 
resque and  proper  contrast  of  light  and  shade,  of 
rural  grace  and  of  wild  and  stern  grandeur,  would 
make  this  island,  with  its  mighty  cliffs  and  sombre 
ravines  and  multitudinous  ocean  beaches,  a  place 
of  pilgrimage  from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  to  all 
lovers  of  the  beautiful  and  sublime  in  nature.  It 


THE    COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       259 

is  impossible  to  conceive  of  any  finer  field  for  the 
exercise  of  the  highest  genius  of  the  landscape 
gardener. 

On  the  third  day  we  rode  back  to  the  head 
of  the  Sound,  where  we  found  the  Helen  at  an- 
chor. We  left  the  mare  and  the  wagon  in  charge 
of  the  Postmaster,  and  embarking,  floated  with 
the  tide  through  scenery  strikingly  resembling  the 
Hudson  as  it  passes  through  the  Highlands,  to 
Southwest  Harbor.  Here  the  Assyrian  and  I 
went  ashore  to  settle  with  the  Deacon  for  the  use 
of  his  mare,  not  without  some  misgivings  that  we 
might  be  embarrassed  in  effecting  a  settlement, 
from  the  fact  that  we  had  not  brought  the  animal 
back.  The  Deacon,  however,  readily  received 
our  statement  of  the  case,  and  said  he  could  send 
for  the  animal  when  he  wanted  her.  We  all  sat 
down  upon  a  log  in  a  sort  of  shipyard,  near  his 
premises,  and,  Yankee-like,  whittled  diligently 
while  we  discussed  the  terms  of  payment,  which, 
after  a  protracted  session,  were  arranged  liberally 
and  satisfactorily. 

Re-embarking,  we  made  sail  for  Bar  Harbor. 
The  wind  proving  light  and  the  currents  adverse, 
we  made  little  progress,  and  were  twelve  or  four- 
teen hours  in  going  as  many  miles.  About  sun- 
set, as  we  slowly  rounded  Schooner  Head,  I  picked 
up  a  baited  cod-line  which  lay  on  the  deck,  and 
dropped  it  overboard,  merely  to  occupy  myself  with 
pulling  it  in  again.  It  had  run  out  to  the  extent 


260  A   SUMMER   CRUISE  ON 

of  about  two  hundred  feet,  when,  feeling  a  smart 
bite,  I  drew  it  up  with  a  fine,  lively  haddock, 
weighing  four  pounds.  This  was  the  last  of  our 
sea-fishing.  We  reached  the  harbor  at  midnight, 
and  our  Summer  Cruise  was  ended. 

The  next  day  I  embarked  on  the  steamer  for 
Rockland  and  Boston,  while  the  Artist  and  the 
Assyrian  left  the  island  by  way  of  a  bridge,  which, 
at  its  northern  end,  connects  Mount  Desert  with 
the  mainland.  The  Professor  and  the  seamen, 
after  we  bade  them  farewell,  hoisted  sail  with  a 
fair  wind  for  Edgemoggin  Reach,  and  thence  back 
to  Portland  and  Swampscott,  where  they  arrived 
in  due  time. 

It  is  related  of  the  Caliph  Abdalrahman,  the 
mightiest  and  most  magnificent  of  the  Moorish 
monarchs  of  Spain,  that  he  wrote  toward  the  close 
of  his  life  the  following  declaration :  "  I  have 
now  reigned  above  fifty  years  in  victory  or  peace ; 
beloved  by  my  subjects,  dreaded  by  my  enemies, 
and  respected  by  my  allies.  Riches  and  honors, 
power  and  pleasure,  have  waited  on  my  call,  nor 
does  any  earthly  blessing  appear  to  have  been 
wanting  to  my  felicity.  In  this  situation,  I  have 
diligently  numbered  the  days  of  pure  and  genuine 
happiness  which  have  fallen  to  my  lot ;  they  amount 
to  fourteen.  O  man  !  place  not  thy  confidence  in 
this  present  world !  " 

The  Caliph  Abdalrahman  must  have  been  hard 
to  please.  For  my  part,  I  can  confidently  say 


THE  COAST  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       261 

that  during  our  cruise  I  enjoyed  at  least  twice  as 
many  happy  days  as  fell  to  the  lot  of  his  Majesty 
during  his  whole  reign ;  and  such,  I  am  sure, 
would  be  the  avowal,  on  their  part,  of  my  friends 
the  Professor,  the  Artist,  and  the  Assyrian. 


THE   END. 


Cambridge  :  Stereotyped  and  Printed  by  Welch,  Bigelow,  &  Co. 


